


Scepter

by asoiafweirdo



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28721769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asoiafweirdo/pseuds/asoiafweirdo
Summary: When Lelouch is exiled across the sea, Nunnally remains in Britannia -as leverage. The Black Prince is in check before the Second Pacific War even begins, so in the last days of ash and fire, he makes the only choice left to him.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 13
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

“Announcing Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia seventeenth heir to the royal Britannian Imperial throne!” 

After the Imperial herald had announced him to the court, Lelouch strode on into the throne room with all the confidence a ten-year-old can muster. If one did not know much about the royal family, you would be shocked to learn that the young boy was meeting with his father. Firstly, you would be astonished that someone needed to arrange a meeting with their father in the first place. And secondly, you would likely be surprised that a father and son would meet in front of a crowd of more than fifty plus courtiers. But this was not an ordinary family; this was the Imperial family of Britannia. And no one, not even a Prince of the Empire, could just meet with the Emperor of Britannia. As Lelouch walked towards his father, who was sitting on his throne, Lelouch listened in on the courtiers’ whispered words. 

“I heard Empress Marianne was killed inside of the Britannian palace.” 

“There’s no way terrorists could’ve gotten in there.”

“Then, the real killers must’ve been…”

“Beware, my friend. You’ll regret starting rumors like that around here!”

“And yet he seems so steadfast, even though his mother is dead!”

“But he has no path to the throne now.”

“And the Ashford family who backed them is finished, too.”

“And his sister, the princess?”

“I heard she was shot in the legs.”

“And that she’d lost her sight.” 

“Hysterical Blindness, though, right?”

“It’s the same thing. She can’t even be married off for political gain now.”

After Lelouch reached his destination, he stood at attention before his father. “Your majesty! My mother has passed away!” Lelouch said. 

“What of it?” Charles replied in a bored tone. 

“What of it?!” Lelouch repeated to himself in disbelief. 

“You sought an audience with the Emperor of Britannia simply to tell me that? Send the next one in I have no time to babysit a child,” Responded the boy’s father in a disdainful tone. 

“Father!” the boy yelled as he ran up the steps to his father’s throne. Two guards rushed to intercept the young prince with their weapons drawn. However, the Emperor waved them away, and they responded with a mechanical “Yes, your majesty!”.

“Why didn’t you protect mother! You’re the Emperor! The greatest man in this nation if not the world! You should have protected her, and now you don’t even visit Nunnally!” Lelouch yelled at his father. 

“I have no use for weaklings,” Charles sneered. 

“Weaklings?” the boy said to himself in shock. 

“That is what it means to be royalty,” Charles continued. 

Lelouch looked away from his father, the image he had of him in his head firmly shattered; finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked up at him again. “Then, I don’t want to be your heir. I give up my claim to the throne!” he yelled in defiance of his father’s proclamation.

The court gasped in disbelief; for anyone to talk to the Emperor in such a way, especially a ten-year-old child was unheard of. 

“I’m tired of the fighting and the scheming over who will succeed you, father. I’ve had enough!” Lelouch continued. 

“You are dead,” Charles replied with venom in his voice. 

“You’ve been dead from the moment you were born. Who gave you the clothes you wear? Your home, your food, your very life! All of those I have given to you! In short, you have never actually lived! And yet you dare to speak such foolishness to me!” Charles yelled as he stood up. This action startled Lelouch, which caused him to fall down with a scared squeak. 

“Lelouch!” The Emperor yelled while staring into his son’s eyes. 

“As you are dead, you have no rights. I am sending you to Japan. As a Prince, you will serve well as a bargaining chip” Charles continued. 

Lelouch looked up at his father with a mixture of anger and fear in his eyes “and what of Nunnally?” he asked. 

“She will prove useful to me in other ways,” he replied coldly. 

“Now get out of my sight!” he yelled. 

“As you will, your majesty…” Lelouch said reluctantly as he got up and began walking out of the throne room. Lelouch was furious; he could practically hear the held back laughter of his father’s court at his foolishness and weakness. He had barely been able to contain his anger when he heard their dismissive comments about Nunnally, but now it was even worse. He had been humiliated by his own goddamn father. Exiled for daring to confront him about the indifference he had shown towards his mother’s death. 

Lelouch was given a day to pack his things and get his affairs in preparation for his exile to Japan’s island nation. His siblings, the ones he was close with, of course, came to see him off. Schneizel, Clovis, Cornelia, Euphemia, Lalia, and Marrybell were among them. Nonnette Energram, Jeremiah, and Darlton were also among them. Nunnally was still in the hospital, so she couldn’t come to see him off. Euphemia began to move towards him, likely to hug him or comfort him somehow, but Cornelia stopped her and merely shook her head sadly. Lelouch looked at them for a while, nodded his head, and climbed up the stairs and into the plane that would take him to Japan. Jeremiah saluted him as the plane took off into the sky with the child of the woman he so admired inside of it. When the plane was finally out of sight Lelouch’s siblings went their separate ways back to their residences. 

As Lelouch was sitting in his passenger seat on the plane, he silently wondered to himself what this new land would be like.

Lelouch would get an answer to his question 16 hours after he asked it when he finally arrived at the location of his exile after a non-stop flight from Pendragon to Japan. Japan, to put it simply, was beautiful. Not in the same way as Britannia but beautiful nonetheless, where Britannia’s architecture was opulent, Japan’s was simple. Where Britannia was heavily industrialized, Japan was far more rural. After he was done looking at Japan from out the window of the plane, Lelouch disembarked from the aircraft. The young Prince got into the car that would take him to the Kururugi shrine, where he would be staying for the foreseeable future. 

As Lelouch sat in the car, his mind wandered to his siblings. Sibling the word was a strange one in the context of the Imperial family. It was hard to have a normal relationship with your siblings when there are 98 of them, many of which are more than a decade older than you and have different mothers. Although his father had made it clear that he would not tolerate any assassination attempts between his children like in the emblem of blood, squabbling over the throne was still the order of the day. He wondered who Schneizel was playing chess with now that he was gone. Clovis and Cornelia could never hope to match Schneizel and Euphemia, Odysseus and Guenivere had no interest in the game. He wondered if his siblings were missing him, or were they celebrating the fact that they didn’t have to deal with a rival for the throne down the line? He wondered if Nunnally had woken up yet since she was due to wake up any hour when he left. How would she react to his exile? Not well, that was for sure.

She had already lost her sight, legs, and mother to a hail of bullets, and now she was losing her brother to her father’s indifference and cruelty. The young prince sat there in the car for about 2 hours until he finally arrived at the Kururugi Shrine. The actual shrine itself was at the top of a hill at the end of a long stone staircase. Lelouch got out of the car, sighed, and then began walking up the stairs. It was a long staircase, and Lelouch was never the most active of children, so he was panting by the time he got to the top. After he had caught his breath he looked up and saw 4 individuals looking at him as if to size him up. A big man in his 40s in a white shirt with black pants Lelouch assumed he was Genbu Kururugi, an old man in traditional black robes that Lelouch didn’t recognize, and two children Lelouch didn’t know.

Lelouch walked up to them, bowed, and introduced himself in perfect Japanese. Lelouch was thankful for the requirement that the royal family members had to be bilingual more than ever. He did not want to speak through a translator. “Hello, I’m Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia; it’s a pleasure to meet you all,” he said. 

The man in black robes chuckled. “We speak English, young one,” he said. 

“Oh,” Lelouch said blankly as the young black haired girl giggled at him. 

“I’m Genbu Kururugi; you will be staying in my family’s care for the time being. I expect you to respect our ways while you are here, boy,” he said in a powerful voice. 

The boy with brown hair and green eyes who had been doing nothing but scowling at Lelouch for the time before this finally spoke up. “Don’t think that you can get special treatment from us just because you're a prince,” he sneered. 

“Suzaku, be nice!” The little girl admonished, “Just as he is our guest, we are his hosts, and hosts are supposed to be gracious after all! I’m Kaguya Sumeragi. It's nice to meet you,” she said. So the boy’s name was Suzaku, and the girl’s name was Kaguya? Suzaku seemed to have a chip on his shoulder but the girl seemed nice enough. 

“I am Taizou Kirihara, the minister of finance; I’ll have the attendants bring your things to your room. If you could please follow me,” Kirihara said as he turned around and started walking towards the shrine where Lelouch would be living for the foreseeable future.

“Thank you, Kirihara-Dono,” Lelouch said respectively with a bow as he followed Kirihara. The rest of the people who had come to greet him dispersed and went about whatever they were doing before he arrived. After walking with Kirihara through the Kururugi shrine Lelouch eventually arrived at what he assumed was his room. 

“You will be staying here for the duration of your ‘diplomatic mission’” Kirihara said as he opened the door for Lelouch. A ‘diplomatic mission’ yes, that was the official reason for why Lelouch was in Japan. Officially he was supposed to improve the diplomatic relations between Britannia and Japan while he studied abroad. Of course, no one with a few brain cells to rub together actually believed that story. Why would the Emperor send his ten-year-old son to be a diplomat? And especially to improve relations with a nation that Britannia had a tenuous relationship with like Japan? 

Lelouch walked into his room and flopped down onto his new bed; as he did so, he wondered what this new chapter in his life would bring him.

Lelouch and Suzaku were sparring with each other in Kyoshiro Todoh’s dojo. Now, if Suzaku had remained as hostile to him as he did initially, then Lelouch would’ve found this task very unpleasant. However, Kaguya, Suzaku’s cousin, who was also his betrothed, had practically forced Suzaku to be civil with Lelouch, which led to the boys forming a friendship. Lelouch had never had a real friend before, oh sure, he had many “friends” from the nobility, but they had formed friendships with Lelouch out of political necessity, not real fellowship. The fact that Suzaku had been so open about his initial dislike of Lelouch only served to strengthen his belief that Suzaku was a true friend and that their friendship was not a political move of his father’s. Tohdoh was Suzaku’s sensei and a major in the Japanese Imperial Army, and he was famed throughout Japan for his martial arts talent. He was selected by the Prime Minister to instruct his son for that very reason.

Currently, Lelouch and Suzaku were sparring against each other using Aikido, which was consequently the martial art that Tohdoh specialized in. Lelouch was, of course, being trounced by Suzaku. Lelouch had never practiced Aikido before Tohdoh started forcing him to practice with Suzaku in his Dojo. Still, he was also the most physically inept person in the Britannian royal family even Kaguya was more physically fit than him. After the sparring session was over, Kaguya sent Lelouch and Suzaku to get her flowers from the forest.

Suzaku and Lelouch were walking through the forest together as they searched for flowers to get for Kaguya. Eventually, they came upon a small hill which they decided to climb up, Suzaku had little to no trouble climbing up the hill, but he had to pull up Lelouch when the young prince nearly fell due to his lack of upper body strength. Lelouch took a moment to catch his breath before both boys were startled by a noise. They looked up and saw a Britannian army advancing on Japan from the sky. Lelouch and Suzaku immediately dropped what they were doing and ran back to the Kururugi shrine as fast as possible.

The next notable thing to happen during Lelouch’s time away from the homeland was his and Suzaku’s journey through the Japanese countryside that had become a warzone. They had to avoid both the Japanese military and the Britannian military due to Lelouch and Suzaku’s heritages. The Japanese army would be more than willing to kill Lelouch as reprisal for the invasion, and the Britannian military was under orders to exterminate the prime minister’s family. They were currently walking through the Gunma massacre’s aftermath as the atrocity would later come to be known. As they were walking through the corpse piles, Suzaku abruptly stopped. Lelouch turned to look at his friend but decided not to say anything knowing that he needed a moment to himself. For his part, Lelouch was outraged by his father’s actions; not only had he invaded, knowing full well that Lelouch could die, but his military was also blatantly committing atrocities against the populace. Despite his outrage, Lelouch couldn’t help but be impressed by his father’s brilliance. He had given Japan a worthless hostage to lull them into a false sense of security. He had utilized their technological advantage to conquer the entire country in nearly one day. After Suzaku had collected himself, the two boys continued on their journey. 

Lelouch and Suzaku were resting at a checkpoint on the road for refugees; a Japanese soldier was saluting his fallen comrades, Suzaku seemed to be brooding as he sat in the middle of the road. Despite the sheer amount of carnage they had caused, Lelouch couldn’t help but be impressed at how quickly the new “Knightmare” units had laid waste to Japan’s armies. They had just gotten word that Japan had given an unconditional surrender to Britannia and that Japan had been annexed. Lelouch knew what would happen next Japan would be stripped of its identity, it’s rights, and eventually its name. Soon the former nation of Japan would become one of Britannia’s many colonial areas, and its people would become numbers. Lelouch was torn on what to do next. He could either go into hiding or return to his life as a Prince. Lelouch hated the idea of returning to his father, but at the same time, he needed to protect Nunnally. After he had decided on his next course of action, Lelouch walked up to where Suzaku was sitting. 

“Suzaku, One day I swear to you, I’ll change Britannia for the better!” he said. 

Jeremiah was worried; specifically, he was worried for the son of the woman he loved and admired, albeit from a distance. He was happy with his life, even if it was as an insignificant royal guard. He got to live in the same place of residence as the woman he loved and got to watch over her children. But it had all gone to shit when Marianne had been assassinated, and Prince Lelouch had been exiled to Japan for daring to speak up to his father, the emperor. Marianne’s assassination had ruined her entire Royal guard’s reputation, with the exception of Princess Cornelia. For the most part, they were blamed for her death because they had withdrawn her escort before her death. Of course, the snakes in the Imperial court had conveniently forgotten that Lady Marianne herself had ordered them to withdraw, but things like logic and facts mattered little to the court. And as such, most of the royal guards had either retired in disgrace or had been sent on a suicide mission to die in the invasion fo Japan. Jeremiah was in the latter category. But he had, somehow, defied expectations and had actually succeeded in his suicide mission. 

At the moment, Jeremiah and his unit held up a checkpoint on one of the main Japanese highways. Their job was to check the escaping refugee’s ids to see if they were on the kill list of Important Japanese political figures. In short, their job was to kill fleeing members of the former Japanese government who were trying to escape from the country. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw two ragged-looking boys come up to the checkpoint. The black haired boy looked almost… familiar… but that couldn’t be, could it? The very thought of the Prince being some ragged refugee coming to this particular checkpoint at this exact point in time was ridiculous. But then again, if he had the chance to bring the Prince home and he didn’t take it, then he would never be able to forgive himself. So just to be sure, he got out of his Knightmare and walked towards the boys. He was thinking about how he would approach the boys; he couldn’t just walk up to them and say, “Hello there lad, are you Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia?” when to his surprise, the boy spoke up to him first. 

“I am Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia, eleventh Prince of the Empire and seventeenth in line to the throne; after you verify my identity I ask that you bring me and my friend back to Britannia” he said. And when those words were said, history was changed forever.


	2. Chapter 2

“Checkmate,” Schneizel said as he captured his king.

Lelouch let out a groan of frustration Schneizel had beaten him; again, Lelouch had never won against Schneizel, not even once. Lelouch couldn’t even manage to get a draw against Schneizel, and it was quite the blow to his ego. Beside him, Suzaku grinned knowingly, sensing his frustration. It had been quite the scandal when the eleventh prince of the Empire returned to Britannia with the son of Japan’s prime minister in tow, both among the Elevens and the Britannians. The Elevens saw Suzaku as one of the greatest traitors in their history, and the Britannians thought of him as a zoo animal to be ogled at best and the prince’s thug at worst. Of course, some nobles thought it was only fitting; Lelouch was half commoner after all. So why wouldn’t he want similar trash as a companion? For their part, Lelouch and Suzaku couldn’t care less about the uproar; no one in Britannia who mattered took it seriously. The Emperor, for all his posturing about social Darwinism and Britannian superiority, couldn’t care less. Cornelia, Guinevere, and Clovis being the most racist members of the family, disapproved, but Clovis and Cornelia were just happy Lelouch was alive. At the same time, Guinevere hardly even acknowledged Lelouch’s existence so that she could care less. Odysseus, Euphemia, and Nunnally were kind souls who didn’t buy into the Emperor’s ideology, so they had welcomed Suzaku with open arms. Carine was a sadistic little shit who didn’t like Lelouch to begin with, so her similarly negative opinion on his friend wasn’t surprising. Schneizel was the interesting one; he didn’t care so much about Suzaku’s race as he cared about the damage keeping him around would do to Lelouch’s reputation. 

After Lelouch had returned to Britannia, it had been left to him, as the head of the vi Britannia house, to decide which of his siblings would be his guardian. In the event of an Imperial consort’s death, any children of that consort would be taken under the wing of an older sibling. Lelouch only had four siblings that qualified. Schneizel, Cornelia, Guinevere, and Odysseus. Guinevere was out of the question given that she disliked Lelouch and would not tolerate Suzaku being brought into her house. While Lelouch loved Cornelia, he didn’t want to subject Suzaku to her hatred of numbers, so she was disqualified. While Odysseus was a kind older brother Lelouch believed that he couldn’t teach him anything of value. So that had left his elder brother Schneizel as the best choice. 

Schneizel and his mother, Julia el Britannia the Emperor’s second favorite wife, had taken the vi Britannia’s and Suzaku into their household and had practically adopted them as if they were their own. As the so-called “peasant prince,” Lelouch had many enemies in the court; however, the Prime minister’s aegis proved to be a powerful one. Julia had quickly become like a second mother to the vi Britannia’s, although she couldn’t replace their birth mother. Meanwhile, Schneizel had taken Lelouch under his wing to mold him into a formidable ally. Although it may not look like it on the outside, Schneizel's political position was shakier than it looked. Clovis and Guinevere had formed a coalition against Schneizel, and Cornelia distrusted him, although she still cared for him as her brother. 

“So, Lelouch, what career path do you wish to choose? A statesman like myself? An officer like Cornelia? A socialite like Odysseus? An administrator like Clovis?” Schneizel asked. 

They were currently sitting at a coffee table in the Athena villa’s gardens for the evening. Schneizel was seated across from him with his assistant Kanon Madini on his right while Suzaku stood at attention at Lelouch’s left. The years in Britannia had not been kind to Suzaku; he had no friends in the homeland besides Lelouch and a few select members of the royal family. Between the rumors about him being his gay lover, personal assassin, Nunnally’s fiance, or sometimes all three, Lelouch was worried that Suzaku would be crushed underneath the rumors’ weight. But his best friend had remained firm and steadfast and had dedicated himself solely to serving Lelouch… and their mission. To reform Britannia from the inside into a worthy nation and to bring about a gentler world. Lelouch would’ve preferred to destroy Britannia instead-but Nunnally’s situation had killed that idea in the crib. 

Lelouch regarded Schneizel with a blank look “A socialite? Really? You know how I hate the court Schneizel” he said. 

Schneizel sported a mocking smile. “I would’ve thought that the goings-on of court would’ve grown on you ever since my mother decided to show you the ropes,” Schneizel retorted. 

It was true, Julia had insisted that she teach a somewhat reluctant Lelouch the way the court and Lelouch had found that he was… average at it. He couldn’t Schmooze like Schneizel or scheme like Guinevere, but he wouldn’t be making a massive blunder like he did three years ago.

Lelouch sighed. “To answer your question, big brother, I plan to enter the military as an officer. I will be entering Boston military academy tomorrow,” he said. 

Boston military academy was the most prestigious military academy in Britannia some of the biggest names in the Britannian military had attended. Such as Cornelia, Nonnette Enegram, the knight of Nine, Bismarck Waldstein, the knight of one, and even his mother. 

“A shame, you could’ve made a useful ally had you chosen to be a statesman. You could’ve turned the tide against Guinevere and Clovis and in my favor,” Schneizel lamented. 

“Unfortunately, my dear brother, I believe Suzaku and I’s talents would be best utilized on the battlefield,” he replied. 

“Be careful little brother; Cornelia doesn’t like it when people encroach on her territory; she may view you as a rival,” Schneizel said slyly. 

Lelouch laughed at the apparent bait to test his knowledge of the other members of their family.   
“Schneizel Cornelia dotes on all her younger siblings except for Carine; whatever threat to her authority I pose will not matter to her,” he replied. 

Schneizel grinned and nodded, “You know our dear sister well, brother,” Schenizel said. 

“Of course, we are family, after all. Between all the scheming and the feuding, we of the Imperial family seem to forget that important fact,” Lelouch said. 

A sad frown marred Schneizel’s face. “Indeed, and our father’s indifference to the governing of the Empire does not help in that regard,” Schneizel commented. 

“Indeed,” Lelouch agreed. 

Schneizel stood up. “Well, Lelouch, this has been a fine chat, but I believe I have a meeting with the ambassador of the EU in an hour,” Schneizel said as he left with Kanon leaving Suzaku and Lelouch alone. 

“So Lelouch, what’s next on the agenda?” he asked; most retainers of royalty would refer to their master as your highness or my lord, but Lelouch hated propriety, and Suzaku could only ever think of Lelouch as a friend. 

“I believe that is it for today, Suzaku; after I have dinner with Nunnally, I will likely go to bed early so I can be extra ready for our first day at the Boston military academy,” Lelouch said. 

“Understood,” Suzaku replied simply. 

Lelouch stood up and walked out of the gardens and into the villa. The Athena villa was very different from the aries villa, so Lelouch had chosen Schneizel as his guardian. Lelouch couldn’t enter the aries villa without seeing ghosts from the past, and it was rather silly of him he knew, but he couldn’t help it. Eventually, after walking through the villa with Suzaku in tow for some time, he arrived at Nunnally’s room. Nunnally was folding origami cranes with their maid Sayako. She was a gift from the Ashford Foundation after he had convinced his father to restore Reuben Ashford’s noble status. 

Nunnally, despite being blind, was instantly able to tell that Lelouch had entered the room. “Hello there, Big brother; how did your talk with brother Schneizel go?” Nunnally asked. 

“It went well, little sister, I lost our chess game, as usual, but I will be leaving to attend Boston military academy tomorrow,” he informed her as he sat down. He saw Suzaku out of the corner of his eye standing outside by the door. 

“I’m going to miss you, big brother,” Nunnally said sadly. 

Lelouch laughed. “Well, it’s not like I’m leaving forever, you little drama queen,” he said. 

Nunnally giggled. “I’m just worried that the female population of Boston military academy is going to eat you alive big brother,” Nunnally teased. 

Lelouch laughed once again. “It’s a military academy, Nunnally, not a highschool. I think most of the female cadets will have a bit more discipline than that,” he said. 

“Anyway, tell me about what you and Sayako were doing before I came in,” he said. 

“Sayako was teaching me how to fold Origami, like this see,” she said as she finished folding a crane as he watched. 

“Very nice, my little sister is so skillful,” he said.

“I learned from the best Syako-san is a very knowledgeable woman,” Nunnally said. 

“She sounds very experienced,” Lelouch agreed, not knowing the double meaning that could be gleaned from his words. 

Sayako, who was sitting beside Nunnally, blushed. 

Upon seeing Sayako blush, Lelouch suddenly realized the double meaning behind his words “N-no not like that!” he said. Lelouch could hear Suzaku stifling a laugh by coughing into his sleeve.

Nunnally looked at her brother and then at Sayako and then back to her brother, a look of confusion on her face “what are you talking about, big brother?” Nunnally asked innocently. 

“Nothing Nunnally! Nothing at all! I’ll tell you about it later when you're older,” Lelouch said quickly. Lelouch could hear more “coughing” coming from Suzaku’s place by the door. 

“Okay…” Nunnally said uncertainty. 

After a brief pause, Nunnally turned to Lelouch to resume their conversation. “Big brother, have you heard anything about Sister Mary? I haven’t heard anything of her ever since she was banished from the royal family,” Nunnally said. 

Lelouch frowned; Marrybell had been banished shortly after Lelouch had for drawing a sword on their father. Lelouch had been very impressed when he heard about that, and he doubted even he would have been so bold. Lelouch held no love for his father, and he suspected that Marrybell held much love for the man either. In a way, Lelouch felt a great deal of kinship with his sister. He was sure that if they ever met again, she would understand him better than Clovis, Cornelia, Schneizel, and even Nunnally could. None of their other siblings understood what it was like to be cast aside by that man.

“The only thing I know is that she is staying with the Zevron family now,” he informed his sister.

Nunnally nodded. “I suppose that makes sense; the Zevrons were always close with Mary's family in the same way the Ashfords were close with us,” Nunnally said. 

Lelouch nodded. “Yes, I haven’t heard that much about Mary aside from that the media likes to pretend that she and her family had never existed,” he said.

“Like how the media likes to pretend that our mother had never existed?” Nunnally asked sadly.

Lelouch's face turned into a scowl. “Yes,” he said darkly. 

After another long pause, Nunnally decided to bring up another subject “Big brother will you dance with any girls at the Boston military academy’s welcoming ball for new students?” Nunnally asked. 

“I imagine I’ll end up dancing with every girl at the ball albeit reluctantly if every ball I’ve attended so far is any indication,” he said coyly. 

He was something of a fixture among the female population of Pendragon, and every time he went to a ball, he had no shortage of suitors. It was quite annoying, to be honest; most of his suitors were empty-headed noblewomen without a single original thought in their heads. It wasn’t just about the way they acted, but it was also the fact that they would sell him off for more power if given the opportunity that disqualified them from being a potential lover.

Nunnally giggled. “I don’t envy you at all, brother dancing with that many girls must be tiring,” Nunnally said. 

“Indeed,” he agreed. 

“Anyway, Nunnally, Suzaku, and I need to get some much-needed rest before going to Boston military academy,” Lelouch said. 

“Sleep well, big brother,” Nunnally said. 

“You as well,” he said. 

Lelouch stood up and walked out of Nunnally’s room with Suzaku following close behind him. After walking through the Athena Villa Lelouch hallways, he eventually reached his bedroom and dismissed Suzaku for the night with the wave of his hand. After changing into his pajamas and getting into his bed, Lelouch wondered what Boston military academy would bring into his life.

Lelouch awoke, as always, with the sound of his alarm clock going off at 6:30 in the morning, most royals tended to sleep in late, but Lelouch was an early riser. He supposed it was something he had in common with Cornelia and Schneizel. He quickly got out of bed and got dressed in his Boston cadet uniform. Suzaku was outside of his door as usual, although he had on an identical uniform to Lelouch instead of his usual attire. 

“Lelouch, are you sure it’s a good idea to bring me to the most elite school in the Empire? I doubt the rich elites of Britannia are going to enjoy having a number for a classmate,” Suzaku said.

“On the contrary, Suzaku, I think it’s a good idea for our plans; people will be slightly more willing to accept you as my knight if you have a proper education,” Lelouch retorted. 

“Yes, Lelouch, you’ve said that to me ten times now, but that doesn’t mean that attending isn’t going to be an uncomfortable experience,” Suzaku countered. 

“Suzaku, you’ve been living here in the homeland with me for three years now; surely you’ve gotten used to the scorn of over-privileged parasites by now,” Lelouch riposted. 

“Yes, Lelouch, but ignoring the scorn of nobles I won’t see again or care about is different from the scorn of the people I’m going to be attending school with,” Suzaku responded. 

“If they are so racist, then should you care about what they think of you? As far as I see it, who scorns you and who doesn’t will just help you separate who is worthy of your friendship and who is not,” Lelouch replied. 

“I suppose you’re right,” Suzaku conceded, “Now, we better leave for the academy it wouldn’t do for the eleventh prince of the Empire to be late now, would it?” Suzaku said.

“Indeed Suzaku, that would be simply intolerable for a man of my station,” Lelouch said. 

Suzaku fell in line behind Lelouch as he walked to the Athena villa entrance, where a limousine waited to take him and his soon-to-be Knight to the academy. It took 6 hours to arrive since Boston was a ways away from Pendragon eventually, but they got there on time. Lelouch exited the limousine and looked around. Given that it was a military academy and a school for the elite, Lelouch was not surprised to see several other students being dropped off by limousines. Several other students were walking towards the entrance in identical uniforms to his and Suzaku’s own. Several of said students were staring at him and Suzaku intently. They were staring at Lelouch with a mixture of curiosity and awe, while they were staring at Suzaku with a mix of disdain and jealousy. The fact that Suzaku was Lelouch’s knight in all but name was a slap in the face to every noble in the homeland. This fact greatly delighted Lelouch, who disliked nobles by a large margin, while for Suzaku proved to be troublesome. 

Before Suzaku and Lelouch were able to reach the academy entrance, however, they were suddenly accosted by a tall blond boy with blue eyes. 

“Hey there, your Prince Lelouch, right? I’m Gino; nice to meet you!” the now identified blond boy greeted as he raised his hand for Lelouch to shake. 

“Gino? As in Gino Weinberg? The runaway son of Duke Weinberg?” Lelouch asked, intrigued by the boy's enthusiasm and informality. 

Gino put a thumb to his chest with a grin “Yep! the one and only!” Gino said, then he turned to Suzaku. “And your Suzaku Kurungi, right? The son of Japan’s last prime minister?” Gino asked with a level of friendliness that surprised Suzaku. 

“Kururugi,” Suzaku corrected. 

“Oh, sorry, and nice to meet you, by the way,” Gino said.

“Nice to meet you too,” Suzaku said, although he seemed a bit unsettled; whether he was unsettled by Gino’s kindness or by his overly friendly attitude, Lelouch couldn’t tell. 

After the unexpected, although not unwelcome encounter Lelouch and Suzaku headed to the auditorium where the headmaster would make a speech to the new cadets. They entered a large hall where a considerable amount of cadets were already gathered. They were standing before a podium where an old-looking man was getting ready to make a speech. Lelouch and Suzaku got into the organized crowd and stood at attention while waiting for the headmaster to say his speech. Lelouch made small talk with the cadets standing next to him, who inevitably asked him to talk about his life as a prince. He found it to be quite annoying, but it was the side effect of being a prince. After waiting for what felt like an eternity to Lelouch, the headmaster finally began to make his speech. 

“You have come here today because you are the best and brightest minds of the newest generation. However, your talent is like a raw hunk of ore, and it has yet to be refined and honed into something valuable. That is what me and my instructors will be helping you with throughout your years here at this academy. Listen to us and what we have to say, and you will prosper! Ignore us and slack off, and you will end up a failure assigned to some boring post in a secure area!” the headmaster droned on and on. 

After that, the speech continued for some time, but Lelouch tuned most of it out; he was more interested in observing his fellow cadets’ reactions to the headmaster’s rhetoric. Gino had a smirk on his face that said, “whatever, you old fart, I’ll do things my way, and I’ll succeed as well.” Suzaku had a neutral expression on his face. Lelouch imagined that he agreed with what the headmaster was saying given his disciplined upbringing at the Kururugi Shrine. Most of the other students had a mixture of bored, proud, or determined looks on their faces. He didn’t like the speech that much; he found it dull and uninspired, and he thought that the old fart was being overly redundant. 

After what seemed like three hours, but was in reality 30 minutes, the headmaster finished his speech and told the cadets to settle into their dorms and report to their classes. Before coming to Boston military academy, Lelouch had thought long and hard about the possibility of pulling some strings to allow him and Suzaku to share a room. But he had ultimately decided against it as it would do nothing to discourage the rumors that Suzaku was his lover. So Lelouch and Suzaku would be having randomly determined roommates for the year, Lelouch hoped beyond all hope that it wasn’t some simpering noble. Still, he knew that was a likely possibility. After walking through the academy, he eventually arrived at room 666 and entered the room. Lelouch found it ironic that the son of who many would consider to be the devil would be given room 666 to stay in. 

Upon entering the room, Lelouch found two beds, two closets, and two desks, each on opposite sides of the room. One side was unoccupied and bare, while the other side was most definitely not. The desk had an assortment of books and items while a girl occupied the bed around his age with blond hair, blue eyes, and red ribbons in her hair. She looked up and saw him from her bed and immediately got up to bow to him.

“It’s an honor to be your roommate, your highness!” She said with reverence. 

‘Great, another simpering noblewoman, and I’ll have to put up with her for the rest of the year,’ he thought. 

“I’m Countess Monica Krushevsky. It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness,” the newly identified Countess said with a charming smile.

“Lelouch,” he said simply. 

“Lelouch..?” Monica said, confused. 

“Call me Lelouch none of that your highness or my lord nonsense,” He said. 

“But your highness, I can't; it wouldn’t be proper protocol,” Monica said.

“Are you one of my subordinates?” he asked. 

“No…” Monica replied, once again confused. 

“Then there’s no need to address me with honorifics,” he said.

“But you're a prin-” Monica began to say. 

“Are you disobeying an order from a Prince of the Empire?” he asked with a smirk.

Monica panicked and began to splutter denials, and Lelouch knew that he had trapped her within her reasoning. In her mind, the royal family was sacred and larger than life, so its members need to be referred to by honorifics. But by her same logic, since the royal family is so sacred, disobeying a direct order from a royal family member was tantamount to heresy. 

After Monica had finally calmed down, she responded to Lelouch’s rhetorical question “No, of course not your- I mean Lelouch, I live to serve the royal family,” Monica said. 

Lelouch sighed. “I suppose it’s a start,” he said. 

Lelouch walked over to his side of the room and began depositing his stuff on the desk and in the closet. Monica sat back down on the bed and began to start reading a Knightmare pilot manual, one that was written by his mother coincidentally. 

Monica looked at him and decided to bring up something she had a great deal of interest in. “So… how well do you know the knights of the round?” she asked. 

Lelouch looked at her while he was putting some books on his desk. “I know Bismarck and Nonnette, I don’t know the rest very well,” he replied to her question. 

“What’s Bismarck like? Is he truly the mightiest knight in the empire?” she asked with an excited smile on her face; she seemed to have forgotten entirely about the pilot manual she was reading. 

“I suppose he is; I wouldn’t know considering I’ve never seen him in action, although apparently, my mother beat him in a Knightmare duel once,” he said. 

“Your mother? You mean Marianne the flash, right? She was my idol growing up,” Monica said happily.

Lelouch sighed inwardly ‘you and every aspiring female Knightmare pilot from Alaska to Euro Britannia to area eleven,’ he thought. 

“Yes, she was my mother,” he said. 

“What about Nonnette?” Monica asked. 

“I know her through my sister Cornelia. They are friends who attended this same academy together. She's the most annoying woman I’ve ever met. She insists on calling me ‘lulu’” he said.

Monica giggled. “Lulu? That’s so cute! Since you insist on me addressing you informally, can I call you by that name?” Monica asked teasingly. 

“Oh god… please don’t call me by that name,” Lelouch asked, no, begged Monica. 

“Too late, Lulu,” Monica said, smirking. 

As Lelouch blushed, he seethed inwardly. Damn you, Nonnette, you have led to yet another disaster! And you aren’t even here! Lelouch cursed his sister’s friend in his mind. Somewhere else, a greenette sneezed. 

“Why are you so interested in the knights of the round?” he asked, although he would soon come to regret it.

“Why am I so interested!? WHY AM I SO INTERESTED!? THEY’RE THE MIGHTIEST KNIGHTS IN THE EMPIRE! THEY REPORT DIRECTLY TO OUR GLORIOUS EMPEROR!!! THEY DEFEND THE HONOR OF THE CROWN AND THE PEOPLE OF BRITANNIA!!! WHY WOULDN’T I BE INTERESTED IN THEM?!” she ranted. 

“Monica, calm down, you're red in the face; if you continue like this, you’ll pass out,” he said in mild concern because currently, Monica was starting to turn purple from the lack of air.

“I’m sorry, Lulu, but really, that’s such a stupid question; who wouldn’t want to know about the rounds? But to answer your question, I’ve wanted to be a knight of the round for as long as I can remember,” Monica said. 

A devilish smirk appeared on Lelouch’s face, and he inwardly thanked Empress Julia for teaching him how to be more charming. “You want to be a knight of the round, you say? And what title will they know you by? The beauty of Britannia?” he asked. 

He was rewarded for his efforts by a cute blush appearing on Monica’s cheeks, but her train of thought didn’t get derailed entirely to her credit. “And will they call you the handsome prince?” Monica countered. 

This time, it was Lelouch’s turn to blush although it was significantly lighter than Monica’s. “Pretty and smart, you must have many suitors,” he riposted. 

“You’re quite the flatterer; you know they say that the men of the royal family are natural womanizers; you seem to be proof of that fact,” Monica replied.

“Rude, you assume that just because I’m flirting with you that I’m a womanizer? Also, ‘Womanizer’ implies that I want to bed you. Are you saying that I’m trying to bed you right now?” He asked with a smirk on his face

Finally, Lelouch was able to get Monica to lose her composure as she blushed redder than an apple. “N-n-no shut up, you pervert!” Monica said. 

“Heh, I think I won this bout, don’t you say?” Lelouch asked, smirking in triumph. 

Monica, after regaining her composure remarkably quickly, did a mocking half bow towards Lelouch. “I concede defeat to you,” Monica said. 

Before Lelouch could respond, likely with some witty remark, the bell rang, signaling the five-minute warning before their classes started. 

“Well, it looks like we better get to class,” Monica said as she picked up her books and left the room. 

Lelouch did the same as they went their separate ways; at least, they would’ve gone their separate ways, except it turned out that they were in the same class. So they ended up walking to class while awkwardly wondering when they were going to go their separate ways. When Lelouch entered the room, he immediately recognized Suzaku and Gino. Aside from them, it was all new faces. Lelouch immediately sat in the empty desk next to Suzaku while Monica sat in the desk behind Gino. Lelouch could hear people whispering about the fact that he and Monica had shown up to class at the same time. 

There was nothing more annoying to Lelouch than gossip; it was, fundamentally, the act of spreading lies about other people for frivolous reasons. Lelouch wasn’t a stranger to telling lies, but he always lied with a larger goal in mind. Telling lies about people as a social ritual was idiotic to him. It also didn’t help Lelouch’s opinion of gossip that the people who usually took part in it tended to be brain dead idiots. He had hoped that the cadets would be more disciplined considering they were going into the military, but it seemed that he was wrong. Despite being the “best and brightest of Britannia,” the Cadets were still teenagers. 

“Good morning, class!” he heard a familiar voice say. “I will be your Knightmare tactics instructor; my name is Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald,” Jeremiah said. 

Lelouch was surprised to see that one of his most loyal servants was his teacher and cursed his luck since if his classmates found out about this, many would accuse him of being a teacher’s pet. Jeremiah’s eyes widened when they met his, but thankfully, he seemed to think along the same lines as Lelouch and kept his mouth shut. 

“Now, I’d like you all to come up one by one and introduce yourselves to the class,” Jeremiah said. 

The students introduced themselves one by one; after about 4 minutes, Jeremiah called up Lelouch. 

“I am Lelouch vi Britannia, and it’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Lelouch said as the whispering in the classroom grew louder. 

“We have a Prince in our class!” someone whispered. 

“It’s not that surprising; royals have attended here in the past,” someone else responded. 

“It’s still exciting!” the first person whispered back.

“He’s half commoner, though,” a third person replied. 

“Who cares! He’s a member of the royal family!” the first person countered. 

“Enough!, you are cadets, future officers, and knights of the Britannian military, not a bunch of gossiping school girls,” Jeremiah scolded. Lelouch could also tell that the comment about him being half commoner had angered him as well. 

Lelouch walked back to his seat next to Suzaku, who was the next person to be called up to the front of the class. 

“Hello, I am Suzaku Kururugi. It's a great honor to be attending this school. It's nice to meet you all,” Suzaku said. 

“A number here at this school?!” he heard some of the same students whispering, although he could detect a more negative tone in their voices compared to when they talked about him. 

“The prince must be behind this; there’s no way they would allow a mere number to attend a school this prestigious normally,” someone whispered. 

“Indeed, the Prince’s friendship with the number is well known,” another student replied. 

“I think they’re a bit more than just friends if the rumors are true,” a girl giggled. 

“QUIET!” Jeremiah yelled, startling the class, then he pointed to the girl who had mentioned the rumor about Lelouch and Suzaku being lovers. “And you will refrain from disrespecting members of the royal family in the future,” Jeremiah said. 

“Now, Suzaku, please head back to your desk,” Jeremiah said; Suzaku nodded and walked back to his desk. 

Gino was the next student to be called up to the front of the class, and he was as cheerful as always. “Hey, everyone! I’m Gino Weinberg; it’s nice to meet you all; I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun this year!” Gino said in his usual over the top manner. 

“He’s the runaway son of Duke Weinberg, right?” someone gossiped despite Jeremiah's outburst before. 

“I heard he slept with an Eleven maid,” another whispered. 

“Yeesh, I couldn’t even imagine doing anything with a number. It would be like copulating with an animal,” the first girl whispered back. 

“I’m embarrassed to be in the same school as him,” another student said. 

“That was satisfactory, Gino; you may go back to your desk now,” Jeremiah said. 

Gino walked back to his student with a strained smile on his face; Lelouch could tell that the comments about the Japanese maid had gotten to him. Lelouch had a feeling that little fact was a sore spot for him. 

Jeremiah called up Monica next, and she walked up to the front of the class with the grace one would expect of a countess. “Hello, I’m Monica Krushevsky. It's a pleasure to meet you all,” Monica said with her usual charming smile. 

“I heard she walked to class with the Prince,” a student whispered. 

“They’re roommates, right?” another student asked. 

“I doubt they’re dating; they probably just met today, and if they were, the tabloids would’ve talked about it already,” a third student replied. 

“Very good, Monica you may go back to your desk, alright, you there you’re next!” Jeremiah shouted while pointing to a brown-haired girl. 

The next girl walked up haughtily to the front of the class; she had brown hair and sky blue eyes. “Greetings, I’m Marika Soresi. It's an honor to attend this prestigious academy, and I hope we all have a productive year,” Marika said politely. 

“That’s the daughter of the prestigious Duke Edward Soresi,” someone whispered. 

“They’re a family with strong ties to the Pureblood faction,” another student whispered. 

“Finally, someone respectable in the class, between the number and the Eleven lover, I was worried we were in a class of misfits and scoundrels,” a third student commented. 

Lelouch cursed in his head; he didn’t like this one bit; not only did the Pureblood faction hate Suzaku, but they didn’t like him very much as well, considering he was part, French. They didn’t hate him that much since the French weren’t numbers. But they still didn’t like the Prince with foreign blood in his veins. The fact that a purist was in his class wasn’t a good thing at all; she would probably end up as his and Suzaku’s enemy throughout the school year. Was this his first real obstacle to his plans? What was he saying? This was school, not the Imperial court. 

“Very well, you may return to your desk.” Jeremiah said as Marika walked back to her desk, “I believe that’s it for today's class; real classes begin tomorrow,” Jeremiah continued. 

The students stood up and filed out of the classroom; many of them were talking among themselves while they left. Lelouch, went to speak with Suzaku who was talking with Gino albeit somewhat reluctantly, for his part. Monica soon came to join them as well, and the four of them walked out of class together. As the four of them walked down the halls, Lelouch was so busy talking to Suzaku that he wasn’t looking at where he was going and bumped into someone. 

“Sorry, are you okay,” he said, but he soon froze upon realizing just who he had bumped into. 

“It’s okay, and hello, Lelouch, it’s nice to see you again” a girl with reddish pink hair and violet eyes said. 

“Marrybell?” Lelouch asked incredulously.


	3. Chapter 3

To say that Lelouch was shocked to see Marrybell of all people at the officer academy would be an understatement. Lelouch’s immediate thoughts were also not the ones someone would usually have when meeting a long lost sibling. ‘Why is she here?’ ‘what’s her game? ‘Is she planning to return to the royal family?’ were among the most prominent thoughts. For several long moments, all Lelouch could do was stare with his mouth agape. He looked less like a prince of the Empire and more like a fish on dry land. Much to his misfortune, everyone around him noticed his somewhat dumbfounded state and began giggling incessantly. Even Suzaku, despite his devotion to him and their plans, shared a guffaw or two at his expense. 

Marrybell sported a mocking smile. “Why brother, you don’t seem that happy to see your beloved sister,” Marrybell said. 

“Of course, I’m happy to see you,” Lelouch responded with an annoyed expression on his face. He was a bit insulted that she would insinuate that despite it having a kernel of truth to it.

“Then, why do you look like your eyes are about to pop out of your skull?” Marrybell asked. 

“I’m just wondering why you’re here of all places,” he answered. 

“Just because I was exiled doesn’t mean I can’t have an education, brother, or did you think I ceased my studies and became a trust fund girl while living with the Zevrons?” Marrybell countered. 

She seemed a bit insulted at the notion, which made sense given what he knew of her from their shared childhood. Marry was always a hard worker and believed in being as productive as possible. She had spent a lot of time during their childhood criticizing him for slacking off and trying to get him to work harder. It had become a bit of a game to him; he would always try to hide from Marrybell so that he could slack off in peace. It had driven his mother, Marrybell, Cornelia, and his instructors mad. His antics merely amused Schneizel, and he simply said that his instructors needed to make their lessons more engaging. Nunnally, Clovis, and Euphemia, for their own parts, were quite the mischievous little scoundrels themselves, and they had joined in his antics, which served to drive their pursuers up the wall.

“No, of course not; I know how much you value hard work. Did you think that I forgot about what kind of person you were, little sister?” he said. 

Marrybell frowned. “I’m only younger than you by five months, Lelouch. Don’t go acting like you have seniority over me,” Marrybell replied. 

“How can I not? You’re so much shorter than me,” he countered with a smirk that he was sure looked very punchable to Marry.   
Marry’s face contorted into a very ugly looking scowl. “One’s height has nothing to do with their seniority, you lazy fool!” Marrybell said, while very subtly (or not so subtly to Lelouch) standing on her tip-toes. 

Much to Marry’s frustration, Lelouch still had a good two inches of height over her, and Lelouch was very aware of this fact, much to her annoyance. This time it was Marry’s turn to be laughed at her expense. Even the blond girl who he had just noticed the presence of was laughing her ass off. 

“Oldrin, can you please have more concern for my dignity?” Marrybell asked; she clearly did not take well to being mocked. It was a personality trait that Lelouch and Marry seemed to share, which was more proof that they were siblings. He hadn’t noticed her presence since he was so caught up on Marry, but he supposed her blond companion was her old friend Oldrin Zevron. ‘What did she call her again “Oz”?’ he thought to himself. He had only met Oldrin a handful of times from the times Oldrin and the vi Britannia’s happened to be visiting the Mel Britannia’s at the same time. 

“Anyway, Marry, it was nice to see you again, but I think we need to get to our classes,” he said as the bell rang. 

“I suppose your right, Well Oldrin, we better get going; we don’t want to be late for our etiquette class; after all, everyone knows that table manners are essential for warfare,” Marrybell said. 

Lelouch laughed; his sister could always make the best quips when she was frustrated; it makes bickering with her a very entertaining experience.

“So, Suzaku, which class do we have next?” Lelouch asked; upon hearing his question, Suzaku frowned and let out a frustrated sigh. 

“Did you not bother to look at the schedule?” Suzaku asked with a look in his eyes that told of years of suffering under Lelouch’s tyranny. 

“Only the parts about the classes that have to do with warfare,” Lelouch quipped. 

“I somehow doubt that given that our next class is Knightmare logistics, and I don’t know why, but that seems like it has to do with warfare,” Suzaku retorted. 

“Fine, so maybe I didn’t bother looking at the schedule and only bothered learning what my first class for the day was; why do you think I keep you around? For your humor?” He bit back. 

“I assumed it was for my abilities as a bodyguard,” Suzaku said. 

“If I needed a bodyguard in school, I could have merely asked Schneizel to hire some goons for me,” Lelouch responded. 

“Yet you still keep me around,” Suzaku replied. 

“Why yes, you make a good schedule keeper Suzaku,” Lelouch said. 

Suzaku was about to reply when they heard a rude remark coming from behind them. “Can you buffoons move? Some of us are trying to get to class, you know,” Marika said. 

Lelouch turned around with a frustrated glint in his eyes. “Oh look, it’s the pureblood,” Lelouch said; he said the word pureblood like it was an insult. 

“Oh look, the peasant prince,” Marika bit back, although her retort was far ruder than Lelouch’s. 

Before Lelouch could respond with some sarcastic retort, Marika pushed her way past him and came before Suzaku. “Out of my way number, or do I have to speak slower for you to understand me,” Marika said. 

“Ignore that command, Suzaku, the Princess can walk around you like a normal person,” he said. 

Of course, Suzaku followed his commands and stayed as still as a statue; Marika didn’t go around him and instead simply shoved him out of the way to get to where she was going.

Gino came up behind them with a rare frown on his face “you know, for a daughter of a prestigious duke, you’d expect her to have more dignity and manners,” Gino commented. 

“She’s a pureblood; manners and dignity aren’t even in the equation for her when the people she’s talking to are ‘beneath her,’” he said matter of factly. 

“So, she thinks that a countess, a duke’s son, and a Prince of the Empire are beneath her? Wow, and here I thought my family were arrogant jackasses,” Gino said. 

“She thinks that a half commoner Prince, a number, and a disgraced son of a duke are beneath her,” he corrected. 

“Still, isn’t that a bit arrogant? Your mother may have been a commoner, but she was a knight of the round, and despite your mother’s birth, you’re still royalty, and by that logic, you are above her,” Gino said. 

“Things, like logic, don’t matter when you’re a pureblood; it’s a synonym for having your head stuck up your ass,” he said. 

“I hate to disrupt this fascinating conversation about our classmate, but we might want to get a move on or else we’ll be late for our next class,” Monica said. 

“Yes, you’re right. Well, I trust you know the way Suzaku?” he said. 

Suzaku let out a long-suffering sigh. “Yes, I do because I bothered to look at our schedule and memorized where the rooms are, unlike a certain lazy prince,” Suzaku said, while Lelouch merely shrugged. 

The friends walked through the hallways of the academy until they eventually arrived at their next class. They entered the room and sat down in their usual seating arrangements, although they were in the front of the classroom instead of the back. 

“Good afternoon class” they heard a woman’s voice call out. The voice came from a dark-skinned woman with silver hair who had just entered the classroom. 

“I’m Villetta Nu, you’re Knightmare logistics instructor,” Villetta said. 

Lelouch vaguely remembered Villetta from the invasion of Japan; she was the youngest member of Jeremiah’s unit, the same unit that had completed an impossible mission and had “found” the eleventh prince of Britannia and brought him home. Of course, the truth was that it was more accurate to say that Lelouch had found them. Lelouch silently thought about how convenient it was that two people he knew from the same military unit were his instructors. This went beyond coincidence; if Lelouch found out that Schneizel and or Cornelia arranged this to coddle him, there’d be hell to pay. ‘I am not some precious child to be protected and coddled from the trials of everyday life, goddammit!’ Lelouch seethed to himself. Cornelia had been overprotective of him, even by her standards, ever since he had returned to the homeland. The only people Cornelia was more overprotective of were Nunnally and Euphemia. In particular, she seemed to be very protective of him when female company was involved. Cornelia had scared more than one suitor away with her withering glares alone. It had gotten quite annoying, to be honest, he wasn’t a child and could handle himself. It had gotten incredibly annoying when Lelouch had actually reciprocated interest in his suitor. Cornelia never reacted well when that happened. A few days before he had left for Boston military academy, Cornelia had taken him aside and had given him a stern talking to about the dangers of being seduced by disreputable women, much to his horror.

Suzaku had found Cornelia’s antics hilarious, because of course he did, and he had congratulated him on gaining a “proud defender of his virginity,” as he had called it. Suzaku’s joke had not amused Lelouch and Cornelia. Cornelia had even attempted to strangle Suzaku before Lelouch had stopped her and reminded her that they were at a social gathering. Since then, Cornelia had gone back to her usual treatment of Suzaku, which consisted of glaring at him and occasionally calling him racial slurs. For Lelouch’s own part, he had contented himself with hitting Suzaku on the arm and then glaring at him with a look that could freeze hell.

Lelouch did not like it when people refused to take him seriously, which was why Nonnette was always able to get explosive reactions out of him wherever she call him lulu, much to her own amusement. He especially did not like it when people mocked him for being such a serious person; Euphemia had often lamented about how he had become a “grumpy puss.” 

Lelouch was abruptly taken out of his thoughts when he felt something hard repeatedly hitting his skull. He looked up to see Villetta hitting him with her pointer with a furious look on her face. 

“Lelouch vi Britannia, did you hear a word I said?” Villetta asked harshly after she had finally finished hitting him.

“Yes, of course,” He said quickly and smoothly; you didn’t survive as the peasant prince without knowing how to bullshit someone.

Villetta looked at him incredulously; she clearly didn’t believe him but seemed hesitant to take further action due to his royal status. “Oh really? And tell me what I was discussing with the class just now?” Villetta asked with a triumphant smirk on her face.

“I believe you were talking about the underappreciated value of logistics in warfare?” Lelouch guessed, he vaguely recalled overhearing some teachers discussing how sensitive Villetta was on the usefulness of the subject she taught on his way to his dorm. 

Villetta smiled. “Yes, I was; I guess you were paying attention after all,” Villetta said. Lelouch smirked; he had learned a long time ago that learning as much information as possible was a boon.

Villetta walked back up to the front of the classroom. “As I was saying before, don’t think that just because I’m not teaching you about the essentials of defeating an enemy unit that this subject isn’t important,” Villetta said. 

“Tactics may win battles, but logistics win wars. If any of you want to be more than a lieutenant, then you better learn how to manage resources, and fast,” Villetta continued. 

Although her constant need to validate her importance was getting on his nerves, Lelouch had to admit that she was right. Strategy and Tactics were useful, but Logistics was probably one of the most essential skills that a commander could know. There were many examples throughout history of commanders who had foolishly lost campaigns because they had neglected logistics. One of the more recent examples was General Alexander’s poor mishandling of the suppression of Area 18. By the time Cornelia had been called in to replace him, many of his men had resorted to using Glasglows. Of course, just because Lelouch acknowledged that logistics were useful doesn’t mean that learning about them bored him to death.

Villetta was a very dull teacher, Lelouch had found, and the fact that she taught a boring subject did nothing to help matters. She spoke about logistics in a very bored tone and looked as if she did not want to be there. Lelouch supposed that he couldn’t blame her; he thought that most soldiers would find teaching a bunch of brats about logistics to be very dull. Villetta and Jeremiah were probably not here by choice. Officers were required to teach at an officer academy for a year after a promotion. But even though he could understand why she seemed so bored didn’t mean that he didn’t want to hit his head against his desk in frustration. Her tone of voice, her diction, her teaching method, it was all dreadfully dull to listen to. Lelouch had to resist the urge to stand up, walk over to her, strangle her, and teach the class himself. Sure, the class would probably run away in terror and he would be arrested, but he was sure he could teach the class better himself.

“Never underestimate the value of securing your supply lines,” He heard Villetta say as she turned to him with an expectant look in her eyes. “Lelouch, can you explain the value of securing supply lines?” Villetta asked.

Lelouch nodded and offered a simple explanation that he had read in a textbook somewhere from Schneizel’s vast library. “Soldiers must have food, water, shelter, and medicine to sustain life. They must have a supply of weapons and a means of transporting those weapons. Since ancient times, successful military leaders have recognized the importance of maintaining a supply line to keep their troops equipped,” he said. 

The bell rang before Villetta could speak again, signaling the end of the class. “Very well, I believe that signals the end of class you’re all dismissed,” Villetta said.

Everyone proceeded to stand up from their desks, besides Gino, who was fast asleep on his desk. He had done a good job at hiding it by resting his head on his hand, but now that class was over it was quite obvious. Lelouch sighed and walked over to his desk to wake him up before Villetta could notice. He proceeded to poke Gino on the nose, which woke him up quite quickly. 

“Hey! I was having a nice nap before you came along; what gives!” Gino said in restrained annoyance.

Lelouch thanked Saint Pete that the fool had said that quietly enough that Villetta couldn’t hear him or else there’d be hell to pay. 

“I’m covering for you; class is over, and how do you think Ms. Nu would react if she realized you slept through her first class?”

“Point taken, now let’s go to our next class. I think it was… Knightmare piloting? Or was it etiquette? I forget, to be honest, I didn’t read the schedule either,” Gino said.

“Well, that’s why we’re friends with Suzaku, and Monica, isn’t it? Without them, we’d be lost,” Lelouch said.

Gino nodded. “I suppose that’s true, let’s go,” Gino said as he stood up and walked towards the door. 

Lelouch followed Gino out into the hallway and quickly went to his next class; the rest of the day was a blur to Lelouch. He went to his etiquette class, his Knightmare piloting class, and his non-Knightmare tactics class. The teachers were all relatively unimportant, and Lelouch hadn’t really bothered to memorize their names; he supposed he would learn them eventually. Eventually, the first school day (well, it was more of a half-day, but that’s not important right now) ended, and Lelouch and Monica headed back to their dormitory. Lelouch found most of his classes to be very boring since he knew all of the material already. Lelouch wasn’t really here to learn anything except how to pilot a Knightmare. Going to the officer academy was more of a formality before he went off on campaign. 

Monica and Lelouch entered into their dorm; Monica put her books down onto her desk and proceeded to flop onto her bed and let out an exhausted yawn. Meanwhile, Lelouch put his books onto his desk and then proceeded to sit down at his desk and then opened up one of his own personal books to read. 

Monica turned to look at him “what are you reading?” Monica asked.

“Machiavelli's ‘the prince’” He answered back without looking up from his book. 

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that a Britannian prince would be a fan of Machiavelli,” Monica replied. 

“His advice on ruling is nothing short of superb,” He replied. 

“I suppose, I still prefer Knightmare to books, though,” Monica responded. 

“Of course, you do,” he deadpanned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wasn't entirely happy with how this chapter turned out and I'm already thinking of rewriting the parts that bother me as I type this author's note. I'm unhappy with three parts of this chapter. 1) Oldrin's introduction, 2) Marika's introduction, and 3) Suzaku and Lelouch's conversation. I felt as though I should've given Oldrin some dialogue instead of having Lelouch awkwardly mention that she was there. I feel like Marika was a little too over the top bitchy in this chapter, like, yes, she's a pureblood so she isn't going to be the nicest of people, but she just came across as cartoonishly mean to me when I was editing this chapter. As for Suzaku and Lelouch's conversation... well I felt like Lelouch was acting like a massive dick, Suzaku sacrificed his own reputation to help Lelouch and he's treating him like a servant. Anyway, tell me what you think of these three parts.


	4. Chapter 4

Lelouch woke up and lazily stretched his arms and legs like a cat; he would have a busy day. Today was the welcome ball thrown for new cadets; only Britannia could throw a ball for cadets going to a school. But Lelouch supposed it made some sense; Britannia officers were not just expected to be officers but gentleman as well. The expenses that one had to pay to be a high-ranking officer were the main reason why most Britannian officers above the captain’s rank were nobles. He sat up and got out of bed; Monica was already up and in her uniform, which surprised Lelouch. 

“You’re finally awake,” Monica said. 

Lelouch looked at her strangely. “Finally? Doesn’t that imply you’ve been awake for a long time? It’s only 6:00 AM!” he said. 

“I’ve been awake since 4:30 AM,” Monica said nonchalantly as if she were informing him of something trivial. 

“4:30!? Are you even human!?” He said. 

“Sir Bismarck wakes up at 3:00 in the morning,” Monica pointed out. 

“Are you that obsessed with the knights of the round?” he asked. 

“I think you already know the answer to that,” Monica replied. 

“I suppose I do,” Lelouch sighed; it was a bit disturbing to him that Monica knew exactly when Bismarck woke up of all things. ‘Just how much do the tabloids know about the Imperial family and court?’ he thought to himself. 

“How did you learn of Sir Waldenstein’s sleeping schedule of all things?” he asked, with a disturbed tone. 

“Oh, I read about it in the tabloids; they can be a bit invasive of peoples’ privacy,” Monica answered. 

Lelouch sighed, “Of course you did,” he said. He was starting to get concerned about what the tabloids were saying about him. He had never personally cared about his public image that much, but the public’s perception of him would impact his plans. After a while, he concluded that he couldn’t do anything about it. The only thing he could do now was pass the academy with flying colors and try not to make a fool out of himself while doing so. 

/-/  
From there, he would be sent off to conquer some god-forsaken country in the name of “enlightening them,” or so the propagandists would likely say. Lelouch would be lying if he said he wouldn’t enjoy conquest though, a part of him would relish the chance to prove his might. He had always loved a challenge, and what better challenge was there than conquering an entire nation? He wondered if conquering countries would get boring after a while without a worthy opponent to hand him defeats. A defeatless war seemed like it could get pretty dull after a while. But even if it did get boring, he would still be content to do it; defeatless wars would do wonders for his reputation after all. 

Monica interrupted his musings. “You better get ready; I promised Gino that we’d all eat breakfast together in the cafeteria,” Monica said. 

Lelouch raised an eyebrow “can it be called a cafeteria? It’s far too fancy for that. I understand that this is the most elite school in Britannia, but sometimes I think they forget that we’re going into the military,” he said. 

Monica laughed. “You’re far too uptight, you know, sure it’s a little fancy for an officer’s academy, but that’s not our problem. We should enjoy it before we’re sent off to dreary posts on the frontiers of the empire,” Monica said. 

“I suppose so, but isn’t it disgusting? How the nobility live in luxury while the numbers live as third-class citizens?” he asked. 

“Well, I guess, but…” Monica said. 

“But what? What justification is there for such an antiquated system? The money that the nobility uses to throw its parties could be used to better the empire’s infrastructure. The positions that nobles are given thanks to their birth could be given to more competent people based on merit,” he ranted.

“Save it for the political science class,” Monica replied. 

“Funny,” he said. 

He might be trying to reform it from within, but Lelouch still despised his homeland, even if he was going to be fighting for it in the future. Although, “reform” wasn’t really an accurate way of describing what he was planning to do. It would be more accurate to say that he was going to destroy Britannia from the inside and then rebuild it anew. The only way to reform Britannia was from the top-down, dragging it to a brighter future, kicking and screaming.

/-/  
Regrettably, the path that he had chosen would likely lead him into conflict with his other siblings. Cornelia, Schneizel, Clovis, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t have to kill them to get the throne. He supposed that was a point of similarity between all the Emperors and Empresses of Britannia. His father and grandfather had both taken the throne by destroying their rivals after all. In his father’s case, he had even exterminated each and every one of his siblings to do so. Lelouch personally hoped it wouldn’t come to do that; he liked many of his siblings. The only two he could say that he outright disliked were Guinevere and Carine; the rest he either liked or didn’t think much of either way. 

Speaking of Guinevere, she had been a thorn in his and Schneizel’s sides for a long time. Schneizel was the prime minister and the leader of the moderate faction in parliament. Meanwhile, Guinevere was the leader of the conservative coalition in parliament. She was Schneizel’s most prominent political rival and a massive pain in his elder brother’s arse. What’s worse was she had recently made a backroom alliance with Clovis, who fancied himself as Schenizel’s rival. They had worked together to block many of Schneizel’s proposals in court, Schneizel had tried to ally with Cornelia to counter this move, but his sister, who cared only for the military, had point-blank refused to get involved in the spat. Lelouch couldn’t help because he hadn’t amounted to much in the Empire as of yet; still, he was sure his elder brother could find a way out of this stalemate Schneizel was a crafty one. 

Upon seeing the very impatient look Monica was giving him, Lelouch decided that it would be prudent if he got ready for the day. He got up from his bed, grabbed his uniform, and headed to the bathroom down the hall. Lelouch arrived at the bathroom and entered it; there was no one else in the bathroom. He quickly changed into the silver and gold academy uniform and exited the bathroom. He walked back to his room and found Monica waiting there for him with an annoyed expression on her face. 

“Took you long enough; we could’ve probably been eating with the others by now if you had spent less time on brooding,” Monica remarked. 

“Well, I am the ‘Black Prince’ I have a reputation to uphold,” he drawled. 

“A reputation for being an edgelord with daddy issues?” Monica asked.

Lelouch grimaced, “my relationship with the emperor is none of your business,” he responded. 

His dysfunctional relationship with the Emperor was common knowledge in noble circles, but no one had ever dared to talk about it to his face (with the exception of family members, Jeremiah, and Suzaku). 

“Okay, buddy, just don’t get yourself killed trying to commit regicide before you graduate,” Monica said.

/-/   
“Has anyone ever told you that you aren’t funny?” he responded. 

Monica put her hands over her heart and feigned a heartbroken expression. “I am so devastated that you don’t find my humor funny; I’m going to break down and cry now,” Monica said. 

Lelouch rolled his eyes. “Are we going to go to the cafeteria now, or will we be spending the entire day trading barbs?” he asked. 

“We’ll be doing both, actually, now let’s go before Gino drags Suzaku along with him to hunt us down to drag us to the cafeteria,” Monica said. 

“You speak as if you’ve known him for a long time,” he said. 

“That’s because I have; our fathers knew each other,” Monica replied. 

“That makes sense; now can we please go? This conversation has been dragging on for far too long,” he said. 

“Sure, let’s go,” Monica said. 

Lelouch and Monica left the dorms and walked to the cafeteria, where they found Gino and Suzaku sitting at a table that was carved from gilded mahogany and able to seat sixteen cadets comfortably. Several other cadets were seated at the table; Marika and some blonde girl he didn’t recognize were sitting at the other end of the table. Suzaku and Gino had saved seats for them if the empty seats were any indication. Monica sat next to Gino while Lelouch sat next to Suzaku. 

Suzaku leaned in close to him. “Thank god you’re here. Gino is a bit… weird,” Suzaku whispered to him. 

“I assume what you mean to say is that he annoys you?” he whispered back. 

“Yes… I guess,” Suzaku whispered. 

“Hey, what are you two whispering about?” Gino asked. 

“Oh, Suzaku and I were just talking about the spat between my siblings,” he lied. 

“Which ones?” Monica asked. 

“Schneizel, Guinevere, and Clovis,” he answered. 

“What are they fighting about?” Gino asked.   
/-/   
“I believe it started when Schneizel tried to pass a law that would require the courts to sentence numbers and Britannians for the same amount of time for the same crimes, Guinevere, who is Schneizel’s chief political opponent, blocked the proposal. They went back and forth with these kinds of things, blocking each other’s proposals, smearing each other’s supporters, spreading rumors about each other, etc. Things escalated when Clovis decided to join in; while Clovis isn’t a member of parliament like Guinevere and Schneizel, he still has a great amount of sway over many parliament members. Clovis, who fancies himself Schneizel’s rival, threw his lot in with Guinevere,” he explained. 

“Wow, so basically, they’re having a pissing contest?” Gino asked. 

“Essentially,” he replied. 

Suzaku decided to join in on the conversation. “Well, there have been some new developments apparently if this newspaper can be believed,” Suzaku said while holding up a newspaper that he had previously been reading before he arrived. 

Lelouch furrowed his brow. “Is its validity in question?” he asked. 

“Well, the newspaper in question is the Pendragon times, which is notoriously biased towards Princess Guinevere,” Suzaku answered. 

“What does it say?” Monica asked. 

“Apparently, there has been a recent scandal regarding Earl Rosenkreuz, one of Schneizel’s biggest supporters in the house of lords,” Suzaku informed them. 

“What kind of scandal?” Gino asked. 

“A sex scandal, apparently the Earl was arrested for having… unique tastes if you catch my meaning,” Suzaku said. 

Gino frowned. “Gross, you know we are trying to eat here, Suzaku,” Gino said. 

“Speaking of food, Monica and I should get some food; we can resume this conversation later,” he said. 

After a quick trip to get some food, including a breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, and orange juice, Monica and Lelouch arrived back at the table and sat back down in their seats. 

“So where were we?” Gino asked. 

“The Pedophilic Earl,” Suzaku answered.   
/-/   
Lelouch mulled over the ramifications of this new information in his head. “Knowing Guinevere, she’ll likely try to use this as an opportunity to investigate more of Schneizel’s supporters,” he said.

“Why not Schneizel himself?” Monica asked. 

Lelouch shook his head “Guinevere and Schneizel cannot directly attack one another without involving the Emperor, and father hates it when his children drag him into their feuds,” he answered. 

“That’s beside the point. Are these allegations true or not? The Earl was not directly caught doing… what he was accused of. Was this arrest justice, or was it a poorly disguised political move by Princess Guinevere?” Suzaku asked. 

Lelouch sighed. “I wouldn’t put it past my brother to be associating with immoral people, but at the same time, this arrest reeks of Guinevere’s influence,” he replied. 

“So which is it?” Suzaku asked. 

“It could be one or the other, or it could be both,” he said. 

“Both?” Suzaku asked. 

“It could be that the Earl was actually a pedophile, but that he was only arrested because of a power play,” he said. 

“You’re quite the cynic, aren’t you?” Gino asked. 

“If being realistic means that I am a cynic, then that is a price I am willing to pay,” he said. 

In a very Suzaku-like way, Suzaku came to his defense “they do say that a cynic is was an optimist calls a realist,” Suzaku said. 

“Speaking of your siblings, what are they like?” Monica asked. 

“Which ones do you want to know about? I’m not well acquainted with all 98 of them,” he said. 

“Well, tell us about the ones you are well acquainted with,” Monica said. 

“Well, you have my full-blooded sister Nunnally; she can’t see nor walk; despite this, she is a very kind and cheerful soul,” he said. 

“She sounds nice,” Monica said.   
/-/  
“It must be hard to be disabled and a member of the royal family, what with the Emperor’s Darwinistic policies and all,” Gino commented. 

“The Emperor mostly remains distant,” he said, with gritted teeth. 

“Well? are you going to tell us about your half-siblings?” Monic asked, sneakily changing the subject. 

“Well, there is my half-sister Euphemia, she is kind and gentle but a little naive; she used to play with Nunnally and me back in the day,” he said. 

Gino nodded “there were talks among the nobility about how close the Li Britannia’s and the Vi Britannia’s were; there were even rumors that Empress Marianne and Empress Victoria were discussing the potential merits of a marriage alliance,” Gino said. 

“Yes, I do remember my mother mentioning that a few times, but the talks ultimately fell through when my mother was assassinated,” he said. 

Suzaku decided to steer the conversation away from the death of Lelouch’s mother. “What about Schneizel? He’s your guardian, so you must know him well,” Suzaku said. 

“Schneizel is both an older brother and a mentor for me; he taught me how to play chess, he taught me the fundamentals of politics, and he introduced me to some of my favorite books like Machiavelli’s The Prince, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Les Misérables. He is also my self-appointed chess rival, but despite my best efforts, I have never been able to beat him at the game,” he said. 

“It sounds like you really admire him,” Gino commented. 

Lelouch nodded. “Of course, Schneizel is a great strategist and politician, he is also the de-facto ruler of the Empire since the father is busy doing whatever he is doing, but you didn’t hear that from me,” he said. 

“My lips are sealed,” Gino said. 

“What about the chief general?” Monic asked, referring to Cornelia by her rank. 

“Cornelia is the mother hen of the family since most of our mothers are too busy scheming and plotting to take care of us, I would rate her as one of the most competent members of the royal family alongside Schneizel; she inspires a great amount of loyalty from people like her Knight sir Guilford and her advisor General Darlton,” he said. 

“She also doesn’t like numbers that much, so I tend to avoid her when I can,” Suzaku added.   
/-/   
“Yes, Cornelia, for all her good qualities, is quite narrow-minded,” he said. 

“Is xenophobia common among the royal family?” Monica asked. 

Lelouch sighed. “Take the attitude of most nobles, and then multiply it by ten; that is how xenophobic most royals are,” he answered. 

“What about Princess Guinevere? You speak of her like you know her well,” Gino said. 

“I wasn’t that close to Guinevere growing up; Guinevere dislikes me due to my commoner heritage; it also doesn’t help that the Li Britannia’s were close with my family, considering that the De Britannia’s and Li Britannia’s are rival lines. Guinevere is a politician and a socialite who is quite extravagant; there is a reason why she is known as ‘Britannia's Marie Antoinette,’” he said. 

“What did she do to earn that title?” Monica asked. 

“Many things, she likes to spend her wealth on extravagant monuments and buildings, she throws many banquets and balls, and she spends an extravagant amount of money on her fashion,” he said. 

Suzaku groaned and slumped in his chair. “Don’t get me started on the number of balls I’ve had to attend because of her, rubbing shoulders with drunk, rowdy, xenophobic nobles is not my idea of a good time,” Suzaku said. 

“So she’s incompetent and an embarrassment to the Empire?” Gino asked. 

Lelouch shook his head. “No, she may be a bit of a drain on the Imperial coffers, but she’s a genuinely competent politician who can even give Schneizel a run for his money,” he said. 

“What about the Crown prince?” Monica asked, referring to Odysseus. 

Lelouch shrugged. “What about him? He’s a very mediocre man; even if he manages to keep the throne when father kicks the bucket, it’ll be Schneizel, Guinevere, and Cornelia running things behind the scenes,” he said. 

“Lelouch! That’s your eldest brother and the heir to the Empire you’re talking about! Show some respect! Also, I wanted to know about the man’s personality,” Monica scolded. 

Lelouch rolled his eyes “eh, I suppose he does have some good qualities; he’s a genuinely good person, and he acts as a sort of surrogate father figure to all of us since the Emperor is so distant. As for his skills well… his knowledge and acumen for politics could fit into a thimble, and that's being generous,” he said.  
/-/  
“It sounds like you don’t have much faith in Odysseus’ ability to be a good Emperor,” Gino commented. 

Suzaku decided to summarize the current situation over the succession “The most likely contenders for the throne at the moment are Schneizel, Cornelia, Guinevere, and Clovis in that order,” Suzaku informed them. 

“Well, I will be a likely contender for the throne soon if I have anything to say about it,” he added. 

“Speaking of Clovis, why don’t you tell us about him?” Gino asked. 

Lelouch sighed the very mention of his elder brother’s name. “Clovis is an artist who has painted many paintings of our family; he also has a great love of acting, playwriting, the orchestra, books, fashion, and chess, although he is not a very skilled chess player women’s skirts,” he said. 

Gino laughed, Suzaku rolled his eyes, and Monica blushed. 

“He’s a womanizer, eh?” Gino asked. 

“Yes, much to my shock, before I heard about his… antics, I would’ve sworn up and down that the pompous fool was gay,” he said. 

“It sounds like he frustrates you and many members of your family,” Monica said. 

“His antics can be quite annoying, but he loves our family, well, most of us anyway, and he has brightened our lives,” he said. 

“‘Most of us?’ so he is on bad terms with certain members of the royal family?” Gino asked. 

Lelouch nodded. “Yes, he and Schneizel can’t stand each other, and Clovis hates Carine, calls her a ‘little barbarian,’ I believe,” he said. 

“Well, what about Carine? She doesn’t sound charming,” Monica asked. 

Lelouch scowled, “Carine is a rotten little brat and a bloodthirsty sadist, like Guinevere she dislikes Nunnally and I for our commoner blood. She used to bully Nunnally when we were little; it got so bad that our mother confronted her mother about it. Empress Mary Anne denied her accusations, and she insinuated that Nunnally and my mother were scheming whores; this caused my mother to threaten her with her Knightmare, the Ganymede. This event did little to help our reputation among the royal family,” he said. 

“She and her mother sound like bitches” Gino commented.   
“They are, which is sadly true of most of my half-sisters and step-mothers,” he said. 

“Surely your other siblings can’t be that bad,” Monica said. 

“I wouldn’t know; it’s hard to be close with 98 siblings,” he said. 

“And what about former Princess Marrybell?” Gino asked. 

Lelouch looked at him with a blank expression. “She’s attending the same school as us. If you want to know more about her, then try talking to her instead of using me as an information gold mine,” he said. 

“Awww, you’re no fun,” Gino said. 

“No, I’m a person whose jaw is sore from talking so much,” he replied. 

Gino turned to Suzaku. “Well, let's give the old man here a break from talking; how about you tell us more about yourself, Suzu,” Gino said. 

Lelouch nearly choked on his food “Suzu?” he asked. 

“It’s the nickname he insists on calling me by,” Suzaku said. 

Suzaku’s scowl only deepened when Lelouch and Monica broke into laughing fits.

“What’s so funny? It’s a good nickname,” Gino said. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just I’ve never heard anyone call Suzaku “Suzu” before,” he replied when he had recovered from his laughing fit. 

Monica grinned. “It seems the Black Prince and his loyal knight both have a pair of delightfully embarrassing nicknames, Prince Lulu and Sir Suzu the pride of the Empire,” Monica said. 

Now it was Gino’s turn to laugh. “Indeed! They will defeat the Empire’s enemies by making them laugh to death!” Gino joked. 

Lelouch scowled. “Move on, please, or I will do everything in my power to ruin you both,” he growled. 

“Fine, fine, mister grumpy puss, tell me Suzaku, how did you meet the Prince?” Gino asked. 

“Lelouch stayed at my family’s residence when he was sent to Japan; that’s how I met him,” Suzaku answered.   
/-/  
“How old was he when he was sent to Japan?” Monica asked. 

“I was eleven,” he informed them. 

“So you two were childhood friends?” Gino asked. 

Suzaku shook his head. “No, we hated each other’s guts at first,” Suzaku said.

Lelouch nodded. “We were like oil and water. Suzaku thought I was an honorless Britannian dog, and I thought he was an idiot,” he added. 

“Really? What changed?” Monica asked. 

“My cousin and fiancee, Kaguya, made us get along. We eventually caved and found we had a lot in common,” Suzaku said. 

“She sounds like a nice girl; where is she now?” Monica asked. 

“She and the six houses of Kyoto bent the knee to Britannia after the war, the last I’ve heard of them, they’ve been charged with the task of governing the Elevens by the ministry of Internal affairs,” Suzaku answered. 

Gino leaned forward in his seat “‘the last you’ve heard?’ so you aren’t in contact with them anymore?” Gino asked. 

“My family and countrymen ceased contact with me when I threw my lot in with his highness,” Suzaku said while nodding his head towards Lelouch. 

“Why did you decide to swear your allegiance to Lelouch, by the way?” Monica asked. 

Lelouch and Suzaku had rehearsed this multiple times; they couldn’t tell people about their plans, so Suzaku would have to use a different reason for swearing himself to Lelouch. Ultimately they had decided on a story that had a grain of truth to it. 

“I was on a Britannian kill list for Japanese officials and their families during the war; if Lelouch hadn’t intervened, then the Britannians would’ve killed me; I owe him a life debt,” Suzaku said. 

“So, I guess we should discuss the elephant in the room. Are you two…?” Gino asked. 

“Gino!” Monic yelled, scandalized. 

“Cmon, Monnie, you know you want to know if they are as well,” Gino said. 

“He’s a prince! Show him some respect!” Monica replied.   
/-/  
Lelouch coughed “no,” he said simply. 

“Yeah, I thought so; you two don’t really strike me as gay or as a couple; you do bicker like an old married couple, though, so I guess I can see where the rumors came from,” Gino said. 

Lelouch rolled his eyes. “Hilarious, no wonder you and Monica are such good friends,” he said. 

Monica threw him an annoyed look. “Hey! I admit that my humor isn’t the best, but it’s nowhere near as bad as this flake’s poor excuse for ‘comedy,’” Monica said. 

Gino raised his eyebrows. “Really? I distinctly remember everyone falling asleep when you did a comedy routine during the middle school talent show,” Gino said. 

Monica blushed. “Ginooooo, you promised me that you wouldn’t tell anyone about that!” Monica said.

Before Gino could respond, the bell signaling the beginning of class rang; they threw away their trash and went to their classes. After classes were over, Lelouch and Monica headed back to their room to get ready for the ball. Monica was dressed in a red dress, and Lelouch was dressed in a garish uniform. The uniform was in the style of the British army of centuries ago and tailored to his exact measurements, the fabric a brilliant shade of scarlet with lovely golden buttons each engraved with the crest of Britannia going down the front; over this, he wore a light blue sash of silk. The collar was stitched with golden cloth and lined with ermine fur for comfort, while his epaulets were of a darker golden thread imported from India that clashed well with the blues and scarlet of his uniform. He wore a red cape lined with otter fur embroidered with the heraldry of his house. His gloves were of fine white satin, the trousers were a lovely shade of navy blue with a single red stripe going down each leg, while his boots were fashioned from fine leather, no doubt from the Hudson Valley and in the style of Hessians. Upon his chest were several medals, the noblest order of St Darwin, The Victorian Cross, and the cross of St Elizabeth the martyred and most notably the order of the garter. The outfit had been designed for him by Clovis himself, who had designed the formal outfits for all his favorite siblings. The outfit had also included an ornate sword, but Lelouch had flatly refused to wear a damn sword at a ball of all things.

‘I feel like a goddamn peacock, and I would’ve preferred to wear black, or even father’s colors,’ Lelouch thought to himself. His thoughts were interrupted when Monica looped her arm around his. 

“Shall we go?” Monica said.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. “Are you positioning yourself as my date?” he asked. 

“Well? Who else are you going to go with? I’m pretty sure Marrybell and her friend already have dates, and I doubt you’d enjoy going to the ball with Marika,” Monica replied.   
/-/  
“No, I suppose I wouldn’t let’s go,” he said. 

Lelouch and Monica left their room and headed to the ballroom (because, of course, a prestigious school like this one would have a ballroom of all things). The ballroom was a grand room in the style of the old French chateaus; it had gilded walls, marble pillars, and gold chandeliers. The students were dressed in similarly ostentatious clothing. Although there were a few people dressed in the academy dress uniform, which marked them as members of the lower classes. The band played various classical instruments, Trumpets, a tuba, violins, and the cello, among others.

Lelouch and Monica were greeted by Gino, Marrybell, Suzaku, and Oldrin. 

Marrybell was the first to speak up. “Hello, Lelouch, thank god you’re here; if I have to hear another word coming out of this flake’s mouth, then I might have to jump out a window,” Marrybell said while glaring at the tall blonde man wrapped around her arm. 

Gino feigned sadness “awww, and here I thought you liked me, I guess you only asked me to be your date because I annoy you less than the other men in this academy,” Gino said. 

Oldrin spoke to Lelouch for the first time since their childhood. “You know I thought Suzaku might be more fun than you, but it turns out that he’s just as grumpy as you are, Lelouch,” Oldrin said. 

Suzaku sighed. “Why would Lelouch choose someone who was the opposite of him personality-wise to be his right-hand man?” Suzaku pointed out. 

Oldrin put a hand on her chin and pretended to think about it for a while. “I don’t know; they do say opposites attract, so perhaps I thought that his best friend would be fun and cheerful,” Oldrin replied. 

Lelouch sighed. “I chose Suzaku to be my Knight because he’s good at his job and because I can trust him with my life,” he said. 

Oldrin tilted her head. “So it’s true then? You’re going to make Suzaku your knight?” Oldrin asked.

Lelouch nodded. “Yes, Suzaku is only attending this academy as a student because he needs proper credentials to be my knight,” he said. 

Marrybell decided to rejoin the conversation. “Even if he does have good credentials, it won’t stop the nobility from being upset at your choice,” Marrybell said. 

"They can cry about it all they want, but Suzaku and I shall prove our worth with our deeds," he said.   
/-/  
Oldrin giggled. “You know you’re trying way too hard to make people think you’re a badass,” Oldrin said. 

Marrybell nodded. “You come off as quite childish, brother,” Marrybell said. 

“Wow, First Gino and Monica, now you two? I am surrounded by comedians, aren’t I?” he said. 

“It appears the next generation of Britannian officers leaves a little to be desired when it comes to their comedy,” Suzaku noted. 

“And here I thought Suzaku was above things like sarcasm,” Gino said. 

Monica nodded. “It is the lowest form of humor after all,” Monica added. 

Suzaku rolled his eyes. “It’s better than whatever you two think passes for humor,” Suzaku said. 

Lelouch nodded. “It doesn’t make me want to hit my head against a wall,” he agreed. 

Marrybell snorted. “Anywho, we should start dancing before we miss all the fun,” Marrybell said. 

“If you insist,” he said. 

Monica gave him a glare. “You should sound happier about it,” Monica said. 

“Why should I? It’s an entirely pointless affair,” he said. 

“It’s fun. I get that you’re a grumpy puss, but you could at least have some fun every once and while,” Monica said. 

“My idea of “fun” is a good chess game or defeating an opponent in a game of wits,” he replied. 

“Well, my idea of “fun” is dancing, so you will be dancing with me,” Monica said, dragging him onto the dance floor. 

Monica led him in a waltz; Lelouch had been taught how to dance since he was six, so he knew full well what to do. 

Monica decided to speak with him as they danced. “So, what do you think of the academy so far?” Monica asked. 

“The students are a mixed bag; some of them are nice, some of them are idiotic xenophobes, the teachers seem to be competent enough. The school is fine; however, it is a bit too extravagant for my tastes,” he answered. 

“I can’t wait until we start having our mock Knightmare battles,” Monica said. 

Lelouch nodded. “It’s the closest thing to real combat we can have, although I feel a simulator would’ve been more appropriate,” he said. 

“I suppose so,” Monica replied. 

“They are also very important; they use these battles to gauge our skills, the outcomes of these battles will determine our future posts,” he said. 

Their dance ended after that, and Lelouch switched partners with Gino; he led the dance with Marrybell. 

“So, Lelouch, do you have your eye on any girls here?” Marrybell asked. 

Lelouch rolled his eyes. “You know those things aren’t high on my list of things I urgently need to do,” he said. 

Marrybell giggled. “Lelouch, I’m your sister; you can talk about girls with me,” Marrybell said.

“What about you? Do you have your eye on any boys here?” he asked. 

Marrybell frowned. “Who knows?” Marrybell said vaguely. 

Lelouch decided to change the subject. “So, how was life with the Zevons?” he asked. 

Marrybell smiled. “Oh, it’s been wonderful; Oldrin is a great friend, and her uncle, Lord Oiagros Zevon, is a good host,” Marrybell said. 

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. “I thought the Zevons traditionally succeeded through the female line?” he asked. 

Marrybell nodded. “They do, but after the death of Oldrin’s mother, Oiagros succeeded her as head of the family,” Marrybell informed him. 

“How did she die?” he asked. 

Marrybell frowned. “How insensitive of you, anyway, Lady Olivia was found dead in her bedroom with a slit throat,” Marrybell said.   
/-/  
Their dance ended after that, and Lelouch ended up dancing with Oldrin; she led the dance. 

“You seem to have monopolized Suzaku’s time,” he commented. 

“He’s funny to tease, and besides, we have a lot in common,” Oldrin said 

“How so?” he asked. 

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re both Knights and the best friends of disgraced royalty,” Oldrin answered.

Lelouch furrowed his brow. “I wouldn’t call myself ‘disgraced,’” he said. 

Oldrin raised an eyebrow. “You’re half commoner, was exiled, and you’ve made multiple scandalous choices. If you aren’t disgraced, then I don’t know what you are,” Oldrin replied. 

“I suppose you have a point, but I’m not exactly a pariah,” he said. 

Oldrin shrugged. “I guess, but you haven’t exactly been doing any favors for yourself with the nobility,” Oldrin said. 

“Then what would you suggest?” he asked. 

Oldrin rolled her eyes. “Make connections; obviously, there are several students here who are the children of CEOs and influential nobles, often their fathers are both. Make friends with these people, even if you can’t stand them; for example, I believe there is the son of a duke here named Richard Eisner,” Oldrin said. 

Lelouch raised his eyebrow; he was intrigued. “Richard Eisner? Isn’t his father the owner of several Knightmare factories across the Empire?” he asked. 

Oldrin grinned. “Yes, you intend to become a general like your sister Cornelia correct? You could use your own private source of Knightmares,” Oldrin said. 

“Do you know where I can find this student?” he asked.

“Look for a tall boy with dirty blond hair; he should be drinking all of the champagne,” Oldrin said.

Their dance ended, and instead of getting a new dance partner, Lelouch decided to look for this Richard Eisner fellow. He knew of Duke Eisner; he was Schneizel’s rival in the Moderate faction; he led a coalition of turncoat moderates who had thrown their lot in with Guinevere. He eventually found the boy who matched Oldrin’s description, as Oldrin had predicted he was getting drunk off Champagne. Which was legal in Britannia, a Darwinistic society didn’t care that much about underage drinking.   
/-/  
“Richard Eisner correct?” he asked. 

He turned to look at him, he was tipsy, but he wasn’t roaring drunk just yet; Lelouch could work with this. 

“I am, and you’re the peasant Prince,” Richard said. 

Lelouch didn’t rise to the bait. “I’m not here to trade insults; I’d like you to bring a proposal from me to your father,” he said. 

Richard raised an eyebrow “what kind of proposal?” Richard asked. 

“The profitable kind, if you provide me with Knightmares when I’m off on campaign, and I’ll provide you with funds and other such generous support,” he said.

Richard crossed his arms. “And what’s in it for me?” Richard asked. 

“If you bring my proposal to your father, and do your best to convince him that it is within his best interest to accept it, then I will do my best to ensure that you do well in the mock battles,” he offered.

Richard thought about it for a while before reaching out with his hand “deal,” Richard said simply. 

Lelouch shook his hand; after this, he rejoined his friends who were sitting at a table together.

Monica looked at him. “Say, Lulu, did you notice how lonely Marika seems to be?” Monica said as she nodded her head towards Marika, standing alone by the wall as Monica said. 

Lelouch nodded. “I suppose she does. Why do you bring it up?” he asked. 

Monica grinned. “I dare you to ask her to dance,” Monica said. 

Lelouch raised an eyebrow “why?” he asked. 

“I want to see the look on her face, of course,” Monica said. 

Lelouch shrugged “if you say so,” he said. 

He got up and walked up to Marika; she raised her eyebrow as he approached her; he did a half bow and raised his hand out. “Will you grant me this dance?” he asked, much to her shock.  
/-/  
Marika blushed. “I- wh- why- nevermind if you insist,” Marika said as she took his outstretched hand. 

The two of them began to dance; Lelouch led the waltz as they danced in the center of the ballroom. 

Lelouch decided to break the ice with conversation, “so, why did you decide to become a pureblood?” he asked. 

Marika looked at him like he was stupid, as if he had just asked what 1 + 1 equals “Because it is what was expected of me as a Soresi, my father is the leader of the Purebloods in the homeland, my brother Kewell is the leader of the purebloods in Area 11, and my mother is quite prominent in the party as well” Marika said. 

“So are you a member of the Purebloods because you believe in the ideology, or is it because you’re expected to be?” he asked. 

“Both, I believe in the Purebloods’ ideals, but I was under quite a bit of pressure to join them,” Marika said

“What do the Purebloods think of commoners? I was always confused about their stance on them,” he asked. 

Marika raised an eyebrow “are you wondering what I think of your commoner bloodline?” Marika asked. 

“Just answer the question,” he said. 

“We believe that noble blood is important, but we acknowledge that certain individuals can rise beyond their stations,” Marika said. 

“So you acknowledge the skills of commoners who could be useful to you, but you give preferential treatment to nobles,” he said. 

Marika rolled her eyes. “That’s a cynical way of putting it, but yes,” Marika said. 

Lelouch decided to change the subject. “Do you want to become an officer or a Knightmare pilot?” he asked. 

Marika perked up. “I want to become a knight,” Marika answered. 

“Why?” he asked. 

“Why what?” Marika asked, confused.   
/-/  
“Why do you want to be a Knight?” he asked. 

Marika sighed. “I’ve been engaged to this shy fool named Leonhardt since I was seven; he’s alright, I suppose, as shy as a mouse, but he isn’t ugly or mean or anything like that. But my in-laws want me to marry him right now, so I want to join the military to get out of it,” Marika answered.

The dance finally ended, they parted ways, and Lelouch headed back to his room for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

The day had begun similarly to how it did yesterday; he woke up to be greeted by Monica, he changed into his uniform, had breakfast with his friends, and went to class. Today, however, was unique because they were going to start piloting Knightmares for the first time. They had merely been regulated to using simulators and reading manuals for the first two days of school. However, the instructor, Mr. Alexander Montgomery Rothschild, had deemed them ready to pilot Knightmares. The class stood in the school's Knightmare hangar; in front of them stood at least twenty Sutherlands. Most schools used Glasglows for training purposes, but Boston Military academy, ever the extravagant institution, had paid the extra costs for Sutherlands.

Mr. Rothschild was an old man in his sixties; he was a retired colonel who had dedicated his last years in the military to instructing Britannian officers. He had greying hair, brown eyes, and a walrus mustache. 

"Listen up! I want you youngsters to get your G suits on, hop into a Sutherland, and then I want you to situate yourselves with the systems and controls," the instructor shouted at them. 

After a quick trip to the locker rooms where they changed into the academy-issued G suits, the students then met back up with the instructor. Mr. Rothschild gave each of them an ignition key and an access code. Lelouch hopped into his Knightmare, put in the ignition key, and punched in the access code ZY6-HJ4T2. 

The Sutherland had several systems that every pilot needed to be aware of, a factosphere for scanning the surrounding areas, land spinners for moving around, a cockpit ejection system, an I.F.F. transponder system for seeing the signals of allied forces, 2 slash harkens, 2 elbow mounted stun tonfas, 1 assault rifle, 1 chest-mounted machine gun, and some chaos mines which were stored in a storage compartment. There was other equipment that a Sutherland could use as well, such as a giant canon, a jousting lance, 2 Staffel Waffen missile launchers, and an anti-Knightmare sniper rifle, but that would be for more advanced classes. 

After he familiarized himself with the controls, Lelouch followed the rest of the class into the Knightmare training grounds. 

They stood at attention before Mr. Rothschild. 

"We shall be having one on one fights today; Ms. Zevon and Mr. Kururugi can face off first, then Vi Britannia and Ms. Soresi, then Mr. Weinberg and Ms. Kruchevsky, then Mel Britannia and Ms.Vergamon," Mr. Rothschild said. 

Suzaku and Oldrin were first; the two Knightmares circled each other as each pilot waited for the other to make the first move. Eventually, Suzaku fired a shot from his assault rifles' sub canon. Oldrin tanked the shot with her armor and responded by shooting Suzaku's Sutherland with assault rifle fire. A bullet from the assault rifle hit Suzaku's rifle, knocking it out of his hands; Suzaku got his Stun Tonfas out and brought the battle into close range. He knocked the rifle out of Oldrin's hands, and she responded by using her own Stun Tonfas. After a short duel, Suzaku managed to force her to eject. 

Suzaku drove his Sutherland back to the others while Oldrin got out of her ejection pod and headed back to the locker room. She seemed very determined, 'She seems to be determined to defeat Suzaku next time, a rivalry, how quaint,' he thought to himself. 

"Vi Britannia, Ms. Soresi, you're next!" Mr. Rothschild shouted. 

Lelouch rolled his eyes at the instructor's over-the-top drill sergeant wannabe attitude and got into position in the ring. Marika's Sutherland was standing across from his own assault rifle at the ready. Mr. Rothschild blew his whistle to signal the beginning of the fight, and they immediately sprung into action. Marika managed to land the first blow, her nearly unnatural speed surprising him. He grinned madly; her evident piloting skills were a mild surprise, but not an unwelcome one; now this would be a fight! Marika sprayed him with her assault rifle. Lelouch countered by firing his rifles' sub canon at the link connecting her Knightmare's arm to its shoulder. The shot badly damaged her Knightmare's left arm, although it didn't sever it like he had intended it to. Marika responded by firing her assault rifle at his right arm, which lightly damaged him. Lelouch responded by once again shooting her left arm with his auto canon. This time it severed her arm. Then he fired his sub canon at her right and left leg, severing both appendages. Marika fired her own sub canon with one arm at his right leg, severing it and effectively turning his Knightmare into an armored island in a sea of dirt. He countered with suppressive fire from his assault rifle, he severed her right arm. She responded by firing her slash harkens straight into his factosphere, forcing him to eject. 

Lelouch got out of his Knightmare ejection pod and walked back to the Academy locker room; he got out of his G suit and put on his academy uniform. 

Marika had thoroughly impressed Lelouch; after she had told him about her reasons for going to the academy, he had been under the impression that she was a spoiled Noble trying to get out of an arranged marriage. However, it appeared that the noble had actual skill to back up her convictions. 'Interesting, I'll have to keep an eye on her,' he thought to himself. 

He knew a great deal about Duke Soresi; he was the leader of the Pureblood coalition in Parliament, they were even more conservative than the conservatives, and they acted as a "shining example of Britannian values" in Parliament. Duke Soresi had remained neutral so far in Schneizel's and Guinevere's dispute. Who he sided with during debates depended largely upon who aligned the most with the Purebloods' values. Guinevere's conservative party tended to align with him more ideologically; however, Schneizel, the sly dog, had been careful to propose bills that would directly benefit Duke Soresi's holdings.

Lelouch arrived back at the training grounds and took a seat next to Suzaku on the bleachers, which were meant for students to watch the fights. From there, the fights were relatively simple. Gino defeated Monica with a stun tonfa, and Marrybell defeated Liliana with a few well-placed shots. 

After the Knightmare piloting class was over, the rest of the classes were rather uneventful; eventually, it was time for lunch. When he was walking towards the dining hall, a staff member intercepted him and his friends. 

"What do you want?" he asked impatiently. 

"We apologize for the interruption, sir, but there is a call for you," the man said. 

"From whom?" he asked. 

"From the chief general, I believe," the man answered. 

Lelouch narrowed his eyes. "I'll be on the phone shortly," he said. 

"Sorry guys, I'll catch up with you later," he said. 

"I hope your talk with the chief general goes well," Monica said as she and his friends left to go to the dining hall.

"We might as well get on with this," he said. 

The staff member nodded and led him to the public phone near the entrance of the academy. 

Lelouch dialed Cornelia's phone number "Cornelia, is this a social call, or has there been a development I need to be made aware of?" he asked. 

"I'm making sure you're alright," Cornelia informed him. 

"Well, I'm alright, so can I get back to the academy now?" he replied. 

"I want to know more than that. Are you happy at the academy, have you made any friends, are you exercising discretion when it comes to the ladies? Have you been eating enough?" Cornelia fired off rapid-fire questions. 

Lelouch chuckled; Cornelia had always been a mother hen; he was at least thankful that she was busy on campaign. If she was in the homeland, then she'd likely come to the academy herself; Lelouch wasn't sure he could survive the embarrassment of Cornelia babying him in front of his friends. 

"I'm fine, Cornelia, I've been eating well, I haven't gotten anywhere close to getting any S.T.D.s, I've made plenty of friends, and I am quite happy here," he informed her. 

"Good, who have you befriended so far?" Cornelia asked. 

"Monica Krushevsky and Gino Weinberg, I've also made contact with Marrybell and her friend Oldrin" he answered. 

"Oh, how is Marry? I haven't seen her in ages," Cornelia asked. 

Lelouch rolled his eyes. "That's an understatement. I'm pretty sure I'm the first royal to have spoken to her in years," he said. 

"Don't be smart with me, boy," Cornelia warned. 

"Yes, yes, or you'll wash my mouth out with soap, although isn't that a bit extreme for being a smart aleck? I thought that punishment was for swearing?" he said. 

"People of our station are expected to hold ourselves to higher standards than the nobles and commoners," Cornelia replied. 

"Don't you remember Cornelia? I'm half commoner," he said. 

"Nevertheless, your mother was a Knight of the round, and your father is the Emperor," Cornelia countered. 

"I doubt being a smart mouth is going to hurt my reputation that much, sister, considering I've done far more scandalous things," he said. 

"Right, him. What the hell were you thinking, Lelouch? Bringing a number to the most prestigious academy in the Empire?" Cornelia asked. 

"Regardless of your opinion of him, he will be my Knight of honor one day, and it would be best if he had the proper credentials," he answered. 

He could hear Cornelia's sigh over the phone. "I understand that Lelouch, but do you know how politically stupid of a decision that would be? You'd basically be insulting father to his face," Cornelia said. 

Lelouch snorted. "I doubt that the Emperor would care," he retorted. 

"He would have to care; you'd be defying his national policy on live international television," Cornelia said.

"Cornelia, I've already brought him back to the Empire with me, made him my Knight in all but name, and I've already enrolled him in the academy; it's a bit too late to back down on my decision now," he replied. 

"I know that, but you will have to go above and beyond in the military to repair the damage to your reputation," Cornelia said. 

"Why sister, I am hurt that you would think that I would do any less," he said. 

Cornelia sighed once again. "You've always been a cocky one," Cornelia said. 

Lelouch decided to change the subject. "How's Euphy?" he asked. 

"According to her letters, she's been doing quite well for herself lately," Cornelia said. 

"She promised me that she would attend my graduation ceremony; I am not looking forward to that," he said. 

"Why not?" Cornelia asked. 

"I don't need her telling my friends fifteen different embarrassing stories," he said. 

"Like the time Euphy and Nunnally roped you into putting on one of her dresses?" Cornelia asked. 

Lelouch blushed. "Yes, like that," he said. 

"You, Euphy, Clovis, and Nunnally always drove your mother and me up the wall," Cornelia said. 

"Speaking of Clovis, has there been any news regarding him?" he asked. 

Cornelia groaned in frustration. "Besides antagonizing Schneizel in an attempt to gain self-validation? Well, I've heard that he's been allowing terrorism in Area 11 to run rampant," Cornelia informed him. 

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Why? Isn't that a part of his duties as Viceroy?" he asked. 

Cornelia sighed. "I don't know. He's always been a bit slothful but never to this extent," Cornelia answered. 

Lelouch pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's practically dereliction of duty; why haven't the Emperor or Schneizel done something about it yet? He asked. 

"I don't know; Father has been getting more and more distant lately, so his apathy isn't surprising. But Schneizel has always been a micromanager, and Clovis is his political opponent. You would think that he would use the opportunity to remove him from his power base," Cornelia said. 

"It is very uncharacteristic of Schneizel," he agreed. 

"Schneizel has always been an opportunist, so either someone is shielding him, or he has a more long-term plan," Cornelia said. 

"Perhaps Guinevere is using her connections to shield Clovis? They are allies, after all," he guessed. 

"It's a good guess, but I don't think Guinevere is influential enough to pull that off," Cornelia said.

"Then perhaps the Emperor, It wouldn't make sense for him to shield Clovis, but the man has always been a bit spontaneous," he said. 

"Well, Lelouch, it was nice to talk to you, but I'm needed back on the front," Cornelia said. 

"It was nice to talk to you too, Cornelia; bye," he said before hanging up. 

Lelouch sighed; he had four main rivals for the throne, Schneizel, Cornelia, Guinevere, and Clovis. He wouldn't feel too bad about killing Guinevere, but it would kill him inside to have to kill the rest of them. But he would do it; he would do anything to accomplish his goals, kill anyone and cross any line. 

His musings were interrupted by the ringing of the bells, which meant that lunch was over and that it was time for classes. 

"What class do I have next again? Oh yes, I think I have Knightmare tactics next…" he mumbled to himself. 

Today they would be having the mock Knightmare battles; there would be three teams, whichever team was the last one standing would be the winner. The mock Knightmare battles were a collaboration between the Knightmare tactics instructor and the Knightmare piloting instructor, so going to either of their classes would be acceptable. Lelouch arrived at Jeremiah's classroom; his friends weren't there when he arrived, so he assumed that they decided to go to Mr. Rothschild's classroom instead. 

Lelouch sat down at his usual desk and began the painfully boring process of waiting for class to begin.

Jeremiah clapped his hands together and stood up from his desk. "Alright, class! Let's go to the forest; the Sutherlands should already be there waiting for us, I don't know why the students aren't told to go there first, but I don't make the rules," Jeremiah said. 

Lelouch, Jeremiah, and his classmates walked out of the school and headed to the forest that was about 1 mile from the academy. He didn't understand why a school for nobles didn't provide them with busses instead of making them walk like plebeians, but he supposed it was still a military academy. Eventually, they arrived at the first, they found Mr. Rothschild and the rest of the students waiting for them. 

Lelouch saw his friends looking expectantly at him; he sighed and walked up to them. 

"So, how did your talk with the chief general go?" Gino asked. 

Lelouch shrugged. "It was fine; Cornelia is as overprotective as ever," he said. 

Monica raised an eyebrow. "Is she one of those bro-con types?" Monica asked. 

Before Lelouch could respond, Suzaku tapped him on the shoulder, he turned to face Suzaku. "Is that…?" Suzaku asked, pointing towards a limousine that had arrived via one of the gravel roads that started at the school and ended at the forest. The limousine was purple and gold, with the crest of Britannia on the hood. 

The royal limousine. "Father…" he growled. 

A chauffeur opened up a door, and Charles Zi Britannia exited from the limousine; he looked around and smirked when his eyes met with Lelouch. 

The Emperor walked towards the group of students; as he did so, everyone present immediately bowed as a sign of respect; even Lelouch was forced to bow to him. 

Jeremiah and Mr. Rothschild stood up and went to greet the Emperor; as they did so, Lelouch listened to the students' intense whispers. 

"Why is the Emperor here?" he heard a student whisper. 

"Well, two of his children are here," a student whispered back. 

"But the Emperor has never shown up for his other children in such a capacity," the first student responded. 

"How do you know that?" the second student asked. 

"Well, I'm pretty sure it would be common knowledge if the Emperor made a habit of doing things like this," the first student answered. 

"Maybe one of his children here is his favorite?" a third student asked. 

"Good afternoon, your majesty; it is an honor to have you here," Jeremiah said. 

"I'd like to speak with my son, please," Charles said curtly. 

Rothschild nodded. "Very well, Vi Britannia! Get up here!" Mr. Rothschild shouted. 

Lelouch walked over to the Emperor and his instructors; he narrowed his eyes at the Emperor, the Emperor's own eyes, which were oh so similar to his own, seemed to be laughing at him. 

"Your majesty," he said politely. 

"Walk with me," Charles said simply as he turned and walked into the forest. 

Once they had gotten out of earshot from the other cadets, Charles put a hand on Lelouch's shoulder; the action was very fatherly, much to his immense displeasure. 

"This will be your first taste of commanding a unit," Charles said. 

"I will command my team to the best of my ability," he said. 

"Good, you will command your team, the royal family leads, it does not follow," Charles said. 

"Forgive me for my bluntness, your majesty, but why are you here?" he asked. 

Charles smiled. "I am here to watch my son distinguish himself," Charles answered. 

"You are?" he asked. 

"Yes, I hope you will not disappoint," Charles said. 

Lelouch frowned. "I don't plan to; I hate losing," he said. 

Charles grinned. "Of course, it is a family trait after all," Charles said. 

The two of them walked in silence before they eventually came upon a clearing in the woods.

"You remind me of myself when I was your age," Charles said. 

Lelouch simmered with anger, but he hid it behind a false smile. "Thank you, your majesty," he said. 

"I wouldn't be so happy about the comparison. My father forced me to marry Anticlea at your age, don't give me any ideas," Charles said. 

Lelouch frowned visibly. "Being married off at the ripe old age of fourteen would not be ideal," he said. 

Charles laughed. "I would think so unless you plan to start creating a brood of your own, in which case it would be best if you start as soon as possible," Charles said. 

Lelouch decided to change the subject; this was not a conversation that he wanted to have with the Emperor of all people. 

"Are you going to speak with Marrybell as well?" he asked. 

Charles snorted. "Why would I? I disowned her, remember," Charles said. 

Lelouch narrowed his eyes. "You practically disowned me before you exiled me," he said. 

"So? You were challenging my authority before the entire court; I couldn't just roll over and allow you to have your way; it would've made me look weak," Charles said. 

"Perhaps, but invading Japan when you knew full well that I could die as a result was a little harsh," he said. 

"I knew full well that you would survive; you were always strong, a true scion of the Britannia line," Charles said. 

"There is no way that you could've possibly predicted that," he countered. 

"If you had died, then it would've been proof that you were not worthy of being a member of the royal family after all," Charles said. 

"So it was a test to see if I was strong enough to be a Prince," he said. 

"Yes, although sadly there aren't enough small nations in the world for me to use that test on all my children," Charles said. 

"That is quite the tragedy," he said sarcastically. 

Charles laughed hard at that remark. "You have your mother's wit," Charles said. 

"How has life at court been?" he asked. 

Charles shrugged. "The usual, the leeches all clamber for my attention while my children fight over my fancy chair," Charles said. 

"I'm pretty sure the court is more complicated than that," he said. 

"Well, my consorts continue to bicker, but there's nothing new about that," Charles said. 

"Let me guess, Anticlea and Julia are at each other's throats again?" he asked. 

Charles sighed. "Yes, I was only half-listening to her when Anticlea ranted to me about it, but I believe it started when Julia made a sly comment about the likelihood of Schneizel taking the throne instead of Odysseus," Charles said. 

"Well, it is true," he said. 

Charles chuckled. "I wouldn't dismiss Odysseus so easily; he has hidden talents," Charles said. 

"Like what?" he asked. 

"I'm sure you will figure out what I mean one day," Charles said. 

"I'm sure I will," he said. 

Charles and Lelocuh walked in silence back to the cadets; Lelouch looked towards his father expectedly, the Emperor nodded, and he walked back to his friends. 

Gino was the first to speak up. "What was that about?" Gino asked. 

"My father came here to "see his son distinguish" himself," he said. 

Suzaku narrowed his eyes; he was clearly concerned. "So your standing with your father depends on how well you do in this match, doesn't it?" Suzaku asked. 

Lelouch nodded. "Yes," he said. 

Monica chuckled nervously. "No pressure," Monica said. 

Before Lelouch could respond, he heard someone clearing her throat from behind him; he turned around to see Marrybell glaring at him with suspicion in her eyes.

Lelouch raised a single black eyebrow. "What?" he asked. 

"Can we talk alone?" Marrybell asked. 

Lelouch shrugged. "Sure," he said. 

After walking out of earshot of the other cadets, Marrybell decided to talk first. 

"So, what did you and father talk about?" Marrybell asked. 

"His expectations of me, the events of court, and the circumstances of my exile," he answered. 

Marrybell narrowed her eyes. "What kind of expectations?" Marrybell asked. 

"Ah, you didn't overhear me telling my friends about that, did you?" he said. 

Marrybell merely frowned. 

Lelouch sighed. "He wants me to win the mock battle, is all," he answered. 

Marrybell raised an eyebrow. "Why?" Marrybell asked him.

Lelouch shrugged. "I don't know, father has always been impossible to read," he said. 

"What did he say about the court?" Marrybell asked. 

"Apparently, Anticlea and Julia are fighting again, nothing new there," he said. 

"About what?" Marrybell asked. 

"Apparently, Julia said that Schneizel would inherit the throne, not Odysseus; Anticlea didn't like that very much," he said. 

Marrybell sighed. "That's not very surprising; every Empress and their six hunting hounds thinks that their child will inherit the throne," Marrybell said. 

"Indeed," he said simply. 

"What did he say about your exile?" Marrybell asked. 

Lelouch scowled. "That's none of your business, sister," he said. 

"As far as I see it, anything involving our dear father is very much my business," Marrybell said. 

"You're being nosey," he said. 

"I'm looking out for my own interests," Marrybell countered. 

"How so?" he asked. 

"Knowing what father thinks about things will only increase my chances of getting back into the Royal family," Marrybell said. 

Lelouch nodded. "Ah, I thought that you wanted to return to the royal family," he said. 

Marrybell snorted. "It doesn't take a lot of brainpower to figure that one out," Marrybell said. 

"Well, I'm not telling you about what father and I said about my exile," he said. 

"Even if I say pretty please?" Marrybell asked. 

"Again, it's none of your business," he said. 

"Fine, then can you tell me if he said anything about me?" Marrybell asked.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "I assume you want to know so you can gauge your chances of getting back into the family?" he asked. 

Marrybell rolled her eyes. "Yes, obviously," Marrybell said. 

"I asked him if he was going to have a talk with you like he did with me. He said, and I quote: "Why would I? I disowned her, remember," he said. 

Marrybell frowned. "I didn't expect him to be so…" Marrybell began to say. 

"Cold? Heartless?" he asked. 

"Wow, you aren't even going to pretend that you don't hate father, aren't you?" Marrybell said. 

Lelouch shrugged. "Well, the fact that I want to commit regicide is basically common knowledge at this point. Pretending that I don't is basically a formality," he said. 

"Let's get back to our friends," Marrybell said. 

Lelouch nodded, and the two of them walked back to their friends. 

Suzaku leaned in to whisper to him. "What did she want to talk about?" Suzaku asked. 

"She wanted to know what father and I talked about," he answered. 

Before Suzaku could respond, he was interrupted by Jeremiah. 

"Alright, get to your Knightmares and head to the coordinates that will be provided to your I.F.F. transponders," Jeremiah said. 

Lelouch and the other cadets got into their Knightmares; Lelouch piloted his Knightmare to the Western corner of the forest; there were three other Knightmares there. 

Lelouch activated his open channel communicator. "And you are?" he asked over the radio. 

"Suzaku Kururugi, Gino Weinberg, and Monica Kruchevsky, It's good to see that we're all on the same team Lelouch," Suzaku informed him. 

Lelouch sighed. "Why do we always seem to end up together?" he asked. 

"Hell if I know, but hey, at least we have our resident super-genius to lead us to victory," Gino said. 

Lelouch grinned; over the course of the first week, Lelouch had been asserting himself as the leader of their little group, he was glad that his efforts had paid off. 

"So you're acknowledging me as the leader?" he asked. 

"Of course, who else is going to lead us? Gino?" Monica said. 

"So, what's the plan?" Suzaku asked. 

"Simple, two of us head to the center of the forest and hold off the eastern team; meanwhile, the other two will punch through the Southern team to come around and flank the eastern team," he explained. 

"Sounds good, but wouldn't we be outnumbered in both instances? We'd be two Knightmares going up against at least four Knightmares," Suzaku asked. 

He was right; they'd have a numerical disadvantage in both parts of the plan; however, Monica, Gino, and Suzaku were three of the best pilots in their class. The plan relied heavily on their natural piloting skills, winning the day.

"I have faith in your abilities," he said. 

"So, who's going to be holding off the eastern team, and who's going to punch through the southern team?" Gino asked. 

"Monica and I will handle the Southern team while you and Suzaku will handle the Eastern team," he answered. 

It was a logical deployment of forces; Gino and Suzaku had won their one-on-one fights, so they were by far the strongest pilots on the team. Given that the first group would have to hold out against four Sutherlands with two Sutherlands, it made sense to use them for the mission. While the second mission might be challenging as well, it was significantly easier given that they would have the element of surprise and they would have momentum on their side. Not only that but Monica and Lelouch were no slouches in a Knightmare as well. 

Somewhere in the forest, Jeremiah fired a flare, signaling the beginning of the mock battle. 

"Suzaku, Gino, move to your position. Monica, you're with me," he said. 

Suzaku and Gino piloted their Knightmares towards the center; meanwhile, Lelouch and Monica headed South. 

Eventually, Lelouch and Monica came upon the Southern team; they were advancing in a tight formation when Lelouch and Monica attacked. Lelouch threw a chaos mine, which forced them to scatter. While the chaos mines provided to them were dummy mines, they were still devastating to Knightmares. Lelouch and Monica fired their sub canons at the Knighmares that were blocking the path to the East, disabling them and providing an opening. 

Lelouch and Monica exploited the opening that they had created and headed to the position that the Eastern team would likely be in. Eventually, the pair came upon the Eastern corner of the forest. 

"The Eastern team appears to be absent, good, just as I predicted," he said. 

"That means that they're attacking Gino and Suzaku, meaning that we can flank them from behind," Monica said. 

"Exactly," he said. 

The two pilots headed to the center of the forest, where they found Gino and Suzaku engaging with four Knightmares. They had evidently begun fighting recently since the Eastern team hadn't lost a single unit yet, and the two pilots from the Western team weren't damaged or disabled yet. Monica and Lelouch hit the Knightmares from behind while Gino and Suzaku ramped up their attack from the front. 

Gino disabled a Knightmare with assault rifle fire, Suzaku forced a cadet to eject with his sub canon, Lelouch disabled a Knightmare by targeting the limbs, and Monica disarmed and disable a Knightmare with her rifle. 

"That's the Eastern team taken care of; now we just need to deal with the southern team," he said. 

"What's their status?" Gino asked. 

"Lelouch and I disabled two of them on our way here," Monica answered. 

"How do you want to deal with them, Lelouch?" Suzaku asked. 

"Let's retreat into the forest and set an ambush for them," he said. 

"Isn't that a bit overkill? They only have two Knightmares left," Gino asked. 

"You can never be too cautious," he answered. 

"Very well," Suzaku said curtly. 

The four Knightmares headed back into the forest and set an ambush in an incredibly thick part of the woods. After five minutes or so, the two remaining Knightmares of the southern team came into their sights. They waited until the Knightmares were within their line of fire before opening fire on them. The southern team was caught with its pants down; both Knightmares were devastated by a volley of bullets and were forced to eject. 

Lelouch grinned; his father had wanted to see him distinguish himself, so he had gone above and beyond his expectations. He had not lost a single Knightmare despite going up against numerically superior odds not once but twice. 

"Victory is ours, my friends," he said, still grinning madly.


	6. Chapter 6

Marrybell sighed happily; the sky was clear, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing in the Zevon gardens. Marrybell brought her tea up to her lips and took a sip, and the tea was sweet and sugary, just how she liked it. 

Lord Oiagros Zevon smiled at her. “I trust you enjoy my tea?” Oiagros asked.

Marrybell put her tea down and smiled back at him. “Yes, very much so, thank you,” she said. 

“Are you looking forward to your second year at the academy?” Oiagros asked. 

“Yes, my first year was quite fun; I am looking forward to going back to the academy next week,” she said. 

“My niece is looking forward to it as well,” Oiagros said. 

“Oldrin has always been a very social person; she practically made friends every day at the academy,” she said. 

Oiagros smiled; it was a sad smile. “She gets it from her mother,” Oiagros said. 

Marrybell nodded sadly. Oiagros was devastated by his sister’s murder. “It is a shame that she was taken from her family so prematurely,” she said. 

Oiagros sighed. “Yes, it was a tragedy,” Oiagros said. 

“My apologies, I did not mean to bring up old wounds,” she apologized. 

Oiagros shook his head. “Do not worry about it; I have had six years to get over my sister’s death,” Oiagros said. 

Marrybell decided to change the subject. “Has there been any news regarding the royal family?” she asked. 

Oiagros shrugged. “Nothing much, the feud between Princess Guinevere and Prince Schneizel has been brought to a stalemate. It has also had a year to cool down; it also helps that Prince Clovis was busy dealing with the terrorists in area 11 for a good while. In other news, there were some talks about marrying Princess Euphemia to some Duke’s son, but they had to be dropped when Princess Cornelia became downright mutinous. I have also heard that Prince Lelouch gave his complete support to the Ashford Foundation in their lawsuit,” Oiagros said. 

Marrybell processed this information. “It’s not surprising that the feud has slowed down; Guinevere and Schneizel can’t keep pouring all of their energy into making life difficult for each other forever. Really, the only reason why they haven’t come to some form of agreement is because of stubbornness. It’s even less surprising that Cornelia would break up any attempt to marry Euphy off; the woman is more protective than a mother bear. The news that Lelouch has made his ties to the Ashfords official is interesting, but again, not very surprising,” she said.

Oiagros nodded. “The Ashfords have always been allies of the Vi Britannia line, and given their knowledge about Knightmares, Prince Lelouch would be a fool not to support them,” Oiagros said.

“What was the lawsuit even about?” she asked. 

Oiagros sighed. “The Bradfords attempted to sue them because of certain similarities between the Sutherland and the fifth generation Ganymede model,” Oiagros said. 

Marrybell raised an eyebrow. “Well, are they similar?” she asked. 

“In some ways, chief among them is the cockpit, but that is common sense considering that the Ganymede’s old cockpit was vulnerable to snipers,” Oiagros explained. 

Marrybell nodded. “The Bradfords seem to be concerned at the prospect of someone threatening their control of the Knightmare production market,” she said. 

Oiagros nodded. “There fear is not unfounded; the Ashfords invented the entire damn idea of a Knightmare, hell even I’m wary of them,” Oiagros said. 

Marrybell giggled. “Well, try not to sue them, would you? I’d prefer not to have Lelouch get on Oldrin’s and my backs about it,” she said. 

Oiagros chuckled. “I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble with any of your siblings, especially Prince Lelouch; that boy looks like the type to show no mercy to his enemies,” Oiagros said. 

“He is; Lelouch has changed, he was nice and as sweet as a puppy during our childhood, but after Lelouch was exiled, he came back… angrier and ruthless,” she said. 

It had been evident since their first conversation; when she looked into his eyes, she saw the kind of person who would sacrifice anything and anyone to achieve his goals. Marrybell didn’t know what those goals were, but she had a feeling they involved him shoving a dagger into their father’s heart.

Marrybell’s feelings about her father were complicated. On the one hand, he did exile her, but in his defense, she had drawn a sword on him. She had done that because she had blamed the Emperor for her family’s deaths. It had been nothing more than the accusations of an emotional child. Terrorists killed her family; she knew that now, thugs who wanted nothing more than to sow chaos and destroy the order of the world. Her father had always been distant, but he had an empire to rule, so she could excuse him for that. He had been kind enough to her during the few times they had interacted with each other before her exile. He had also put an end to the interfamilial assassination plots that had plagued her father’s generation. And from what her mother had told her before she died, he wasn’t a terrible husband, he wasn’t a good one, but he wasn’t a bad one either. Really, she couldn’t find a lot to complain about when it came to her father. Sure, he could be a lot better, but he could’ve been a lot worse. So she honestly could not understand Lelouch’s desire to murder him. 

Oh sure, she understood that father had been outright disinterested in getting justice for his mother, but he had a lot to worry about at the time. Tensions were rising with the EU and the Chinese Federation, and Japan took advantage of it with their opportunistic embargo of Britannia. At the time, the death of one of his many consorts much have seen like a minuscule problem in comparison. And yes, his punishment for Lelouch may have been harsh, but Lelouch had challenged his authority in front of the entire court. 

Lord Zevon interrupted her musings. “Losing one’s mother and having to survive a war zone can change a person,” Oiagros said.

“I suppose,” she said. 

Their conversation was interrupted by a butler. “My apologies Lord Zevon, Lady Mel Britannia, but Prince Clovis has come to see you,” the butler said.

Marrybell stood up from her seat. “Truly? It’s been a long time since he has met with me in person,” she asked. 

The butler nodded. “Yes, his personal transport that is currently parked outside the gates gives that away,” the butler said. 

Oiagros stood up and clapped his hands together. “Well, we should go greet our royal guest then,” Oiagros said.

Marrybell nodded.“Yes, it is never a good idea to keep a member of the royal family waiting, especially Clovis,” she said. 

Clovis was the only member of the royal family that had kept in contact with her after she was exiled. He had been her window into the affairs of her family while she lived with the Zevons in their manor. He gave her dresses personally designed by himself as well, which, unlike most members of the royal family, she actually wore to social events. He was her ally, and he had already agreed to help her get back into the fold of the Royal family.

Marrybell and Oiagros arrived at the main entrance to the Zevon manor; Clovis and General Bartley Asprius were already waiting for them. 

General Asprius was her brother’s staunch ally and closest confidant; he was very loyal to Clovis. She didn’t know the details, but sometime during his career, Bartley had disobeyed orders, which had ruined his career. Clovis, however, saw his talent and recruited him into his inner circle, saving his career and earning his loyalty. 

Clovis smiled when he saw her. “Marry, my dear little sister, it is simply wonderful to see you again; it’s been too long,” Clovis said.

Marrybell closed the distance between them. “It is wonderful to see you as well, big brother,” she said, smiling. 

Clovis may be a bit pompous, but he was an ever affectionate brother, and even if he annoyed them sometimes, most of her family seemed to understand that, including her. 

Clovis turned to Bartley. “Bartley, why don’t you settle our business with Lord Zevon while I speak with my sister,” Clovis said. 

Clovis then turned to Oiagros. “Can you please arrange a comfortable place for my sister and me to talk?” Clovis asked, 

Bartley and Oiagros both nodded. 

“Of course, your highness, give me a minute to make the arrangements,” Oiagros said. 

Oiagros left the main entrance, leaving Marrybell with her brother and General Bartley. 

“So, Marry, how has the academy been treating you?” Clovis asked. 

“Well enough, Lelouch continues to upstage everyone, but that is to be expected; he was always a prodigy,” she answered. 

Lelouch had made the mock battles his own personal stage to show off his tactical skills; she had only been able to beat him and his team once last year, and that had only been because Lelouch had stayed up all night before the day of the battle, according to Monica anyway. 

Clovis chuckled. “Yes, Lelouch has always been more skilled than any boy his age has any right to be; it’s a shame that Schneizel got his opportunistic claws into him,” Clovis said. 

Clovis and Schneizel had never gotten along particularly well, mostly because of the apparent sense of superiority that Schneizel felt towards Clovis. It was primarily because of Schneizel looking down on him that Clovis was so desperate to be his rival. 

Marrybell nodded. “Yes, Lelouch is a firm ally of Schneizel,” she commented.   
It had become evident after the first week of the academy that Lelouch was a staunch ally of Schneizel. From him often commenting about Schneizel’s apparent virtues to taking Schneizel’s side, whenever discussions about the feud came up, or just how he seemed to support him whenever he came up in conversations. 

Clovis sighed. “Sometimes I wish I was born sooner so that I could’ve been eligible to become his guardian, then maybe he would’ve turned out differently,” Clovis said. 

Clovis had been thirteen when it had been time for Lelouch to choose a new guardian, and as such, he wasn’t an acceptable candidate for guardianship. 

Marrybell shook her head. “There is no use in thinking about what might have been,” she said. 

Clovis smiled. “I suppose you’re right,” Clovis said. 

“How has Lalia been?” she asked. 

Clovis seemed surprised by the question. “Oh, she’s… fine, I guess; I haven’t seen her in a long time,” Clovis said. 

Clovis was a great brother for his half-siblings, but he was rather neglectful towards his full-blooded sister. It stood in sharp contrast to Cornelia and Euphemia, Lelouch and Nunnally, and before her sister’s death, herself and Eulyia. The fact that he was visiting the homeland and was even coming to meet with her in person but hadn’t bothered to visit his sister and mother spoke to his apathy towards his full-blooded family. 

“You should visit her sometime,” she said.

Clovis frowned. “But… what would we even talk about? Every time I bother to go and see her, we just end up sitting there in silence; it’s incredibly awkward,” Clovis said.

Clovis and Lalia didn’t know each other very well, likely because of the massive gap in their ages.

“You could at least talk about something,” she said. 

Clovis scoffed. “Yes, Yes! Of course! I’ll just talk to her about “something” It’s such an interesting subject matter; it will be sure to enrapture her!” Clovis said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Marrybell rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant, brother; she’s your sister; why is it fair for you to be close with your half-siblings but to ignore your full-blooded sister?” she asked.

Clovis sighed. “I’m closer with my half-siblings because I share interests with them, Nunnally and I both love plays, Euphy and I talk about fashion, Lelouch and I both love chess; you and I also share a liking for chess, you get the idea,” Clovis said. 

“Then talk to her about her interests; you don’t need to share an interest with someone to talk with them about a subject,” she said. 

“Do I have to?” Clovis asked. 

Marrybell narrowed her eyes. “Yes,” she said. 

Before they could continue their conversation, they were interrupted by Oiagros. 

“Prince Clovis, I have arranged for you and Marry to speak in a guest room,” Oiagros said. 

“Thank you, Lord Zevon, Bartley, you should go and speak to Lord Zevon now,” Clovis said. 

General Bartley nodded. “As you say, your highness,” Bartley said, as he and Oiagros walked away together, likely to Oiagros’ office. 

“I know the way to the guest room. Would you like me to lead the way?” she asked.

Cloves nodded, slowly and uncertainly. “Yes, but it would’ve been better if a servant showed us the way; even if you were exiled, you’re still the daughter of the Emperor; you shouldn’t be doing servant jobs,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell rolled her eyes. “I’ve been living here for the past four years since my exile; I know the way to the guest rooms, so it’s no great burden,” She said. 

“I understand that, but…” Clovis began to say. 

“Let’s just get to the guest room,” she said.

Clovis nodded reluctantly. “Very well,” Clovis said.

Marrybell and Clovis walked through the Zevon manor and eventually arrived at the guest room; waiting for them were several pastries, beverages, and a chessboard fully arrayed with pieces. Every time Clovis visited her in person, it was a tradition that they would play a chess game together, so it was of no surprise that Oiagros had left a chessboard for them.

Clovis sat down on the black side of the board. “I assume you want to play white?” Clovis asked.

Marrybell nodded. “Of course,” she said.   
Marrybell preferred playing white in chess; she always liked to have the first move as it makes it easier to set up attacks. 

Marrybell sat down on the white side of the board and moved her pawn to E4. “So brother, what is the purpose of this visit?” she asked. 

Clovis countered her move by moving his pawn to E5. “I’m here to discuss the prospects of getting you back into the royal family,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell moved her Knight to F3. “Haven’t we done that multiple times before?” she asked. 

Clovis nodded and moved his Knight to C6. “Yes, but today I’ve convinced someone else to come and meet with us to discuss the subject, She should’ve arrived by now, but she has always loved being fashionably late,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell raised an eyebrow as she moved her bishop to C4. “She sounds like a fascinating woman,” she said. 

Clovis shook his head as he moved his bishop to C5. “Fascinating? Not really. Difficult? Absolutely” Clovis said. 

Marrybell giggled and moved her pawn to B4. “It sounds like she really annoys you,” she said. 

Clovis chuckled as he moved his Bishop to capture her pawn on B4. “She annoys everyone, but I suppose that’s part of her charm,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell smiled and moved her pawn to C3. “So she can help me get back into the royal family?” she asked. 

Clovis smiled coyly at her as he moved his Bishop to A5. “I’d imagine so; Guinevere is one of the most influential royals; after all, she is only surpassed by Schneizel,” Clovis said.

Marrybell’s eyes widened slightly; after she recovered, she moved her pawn to D4. “So this mysterious woman is Guinevere? Now that I think about it, the woman you described does sound like her,” she said. 

Clovis nodded and moved his pawn to capture her pawn in D4. “Yes, Guinevere… has always been a bit...ill-natured, but she is shrewd and is your best shot at getting into the royal family,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell raised an eyebrow as she castled in the right corner of the board. “I thought you were handling that?” she asked. 

Clovis shook his head as he moved his pawn to D3. “I’m only one man, and I have never been father’s favorite,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell moved her Queen to B3. “Then what about Schneizel? He seems to be practically running the Empire now,” she asked. 

Clovis frowned and moved his Queen to F6. “No, Schneizel already has his own ally in Lelouch; he doesn’t need you; in fact sponsoring you would go against his own interests since you and Lelouch could end up coming to blows,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell frowned as she moved her Pawn to E5. “Why would Lelouch and I ever come to blows?” she asked. 

Clovis rolled his eyes as if she asked the most obvious question in the world and moved his Queen to G6. “In the royal family, prodigious siblings who are close in age often end up as each other’s rivals. Just look at Cornelia and Guinevere, me and Schneizel, Nunnally and Carine, And even father and our dead uncle Octavian. It’s a fact of life in our family,” Clovis said. 

“I suppose,” she said as she moved her rook to E1. 

Clovis smiled and picked up his Knight. “Why don’t we focus on the game, shall we?” Clovis asked. 

Marrybell smiled back at him. “Yes, let’s,” she said. 

Eventually, after a long game, Marrybell moved her Bishop in to capture Clovis’ king. “Now, where were we?” she asked. 

“I believe we were discussing your options for getting into the royal family, but we got sidetracked when we talked about the prospect of you and Lelouch coming to blows,” Clovis said. 

“Very well, what about Cornelia and Odysseus then?” she asked. 

Clovis laughed. “Ha! The idea of Odysseus managing to convince father to do anything is hilarious. As for Cornelia, she’s a soldier, not a politician; she’d never be able to convince father to let you back in,” Clovis said. 

Marrybell sighed. “So you and Guinevere are my only choice then?” she asked. 

Clovis nodded. “Exactly,” Clovis said. 

A butler entered the room. “Your highness Princess Guinevere is here to see you,” the Butler said as Guinevere entered the room.   
Guinevere hadn’t changed much from what Marry remembered of her, she was wearing a large amount of makeup, and she coated her lips in purple lipstick; she also wore an extravagant purple dress. She had greyish-silver hair and green eyes and had a rose tattoo over her right breast. 

Clovis clapped his hands together. “Ah! So you finally grace us with your presence, at last, big sister,” Clovis said. 

Guinevere scowled. “Let’s just get this over with you pompous fool,” Guinevere said before turning to Marrybell. 

“You girl, stand up and show me the respect due to my station; I’m the crown princess, not one of those Zevon peasants,” Guinevere said. 

Marrybell ignored the insult to the Zevons and stood up; she offered Guinevere a perfect curtsy. “Your highness, you honor me with your presence,” she said. 

Guinevere smiled. “Good, that’s much better. If only you were more like her, Clovis,” Guinevere said. 

Clovis chuckled. “I’m thankful that I am not like her. I’d rather start dressing as boorishly as Cornelia before I’d show you the respect due to your station’” Clovis said. 

Guinevere rolled her eyes. “Of course you would; it’s not my fault that I’m the only person in this damn family that cares about propriety,” Guinevere said. 

Clovis shrugged. “Guinevere, I care about propriety as well, but the difference is that I’m not an ill-tempered rogue about it,” Clovis said. 

Guinevere glared at him. “If we let our lessers forget that we are above them for even a second, then eventually they’ll start asking for things like ‘democracy’ and ‘civil rights.’ And then soon enough, we have the French Revolution all over again,” Guinevere said. 

Clovis stifled a laugh. “Truly, your moniker truly suits you well, sister,” Clovis mumbled. 

Guinevere scowled at him. “What was that?” Guinevere asked. 

Clovis threw his hands up. “Nothing! Nothing!” Clovis said. 

Guinevere smiled. “That’s what I thought,” Guinevere said. 

Clovis sighed. “Can we please get on with the actual subject matter of this discussion?” Clovis asked. 

Guinevere nodded. “Yes, this is getting tedious, girl; what can you offer me?” Guinevere asked. 

Marrybell raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?” she said. 

Guinevere rolled her eyes. “Are you deaf, girl? I’m asking you what you can offer me in exchange for convincing father to allow you back into the royal family. I’m not going to risk myself for free, you know,” Guinevere said. 

Clovis decided to step in and help her. “Perhaps she could help us counter Schneizel’s Queen?” Clovis asked. 

Guinevere nodded. “Yes, Schneizel has been molding Lelouch to be his ally in the hopes that Lelouch might turn the balance of power in his favor. Perhaps you can counter any influence Lelouch might have, girl?” Guinevere said. 

“So in exchange for helping you, you want me to aid you in your feud with Schneizel,” she summarized. 

Guinevere nodded again. “Yes, if you enter the game on our side, then we will outnumber Schneizel and Lelouch three to two,” Guinevere said. 

“So, do you accept?” Clovis asked. 

Marrybell thought about it; on the one hand, Lelouch could consider this a betrayal of his trust, but on the other hand, she didn’t owe Lelouch anything, and it wasn’t like he was helping her get back into the royal family. It was unfortunate that this might put her at odds with Lelouch and Schneizel, but that was a small price to pay to get back into the royal family. 

Marrybell nodded. “I accept,” she said.


End file.
